«Alberelli senza radici». I delegati italiani alla Ccee-Oece e l’avvio del processo d’integrazione economica europea (1947-1951)

This article deals with Italy's participation in the post-1945 process of international economic reconstruction and takes into account the experience of the Italian delegation to the Conference - then, since 1948, Organisation - for European Economic Cooperation (Ceec-Oeec). The role of the main delegation's members (Campilli, Tremelloni, and Malagodi) will be fully investigated and, first and foremost, it will be highlighted how the Italian representatives to the Ceec-Oeec set up and interpreted their function of economic international experts committed to the management of the Marshall Plan. Secondly, this contribution will explore the manifold features of the relationships that emerged between the Italian delegates and Rome's central authorities (ministry of Foreign Affairs; Premiership). Thirdly, it will be assessed if and to what extent the delegates earned their own autonomy with respect to the general guidelines indicated by Italy's central government. By placing the Ceec-Oeec's case of study within the wide context of Italy's involvement in the early steps of the European economic integration process and the Cold War, this article aims to shed new light on the contradictory ways through which Italy's economic and diplomatic elite contributed to manage the country's accession to the new Euro-American «bloc» in the aftermath of WWII.