Democrazia e imperi. L’Italia all’esposizione di Parigi nel 1889

The paper aims to analyse the world’s exhibitions from the point of view of international relations, and not only from the point of view of the economic, social and cultural settings of participat- ing countries. Italy refuses to participate to 1889 Paris for economic motivations officially; for an international relations strategy related to the historical situation and to Bismarck’s assessments actu- ally. The matter, very intricate, involves not only international relations, but also domestic issues linked to the national and political identities. The paper is organized in two parts. The first con- cerns Italy’s placement in the international theatre, the refuse’s political and diplomatic reasons and the connected internal political topics. The second section concerns Italian newspapers and illustrated press compared with some of the most important European illustrated magazines.