From the Italian Mezzogiorno to the Global South: the case of Italconsult in Iran (1957-1958)

This article explores the extent to which Italian development experts who went on to operate in the Global South transplanted the approaches they had adopted in the Italian Mezzogiorno. To do so, it examines the early years of activity of Italconsult, a non-profit consulting engineering company founded in 1957. Although hitherto underexplored in the historiography, Italconsult quickly came to play a significant role in the international arena of development aid. The first section reconstructs the context of its establishment and how it secured its first contract in Iran. The second section offers a collective biography of the experts involved in the first mission to Iran, showing that Italconsult’s recruitment relied on the two main institutions responsible for developing Southern Italy: the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno and SVIMEZ. The final section examines how Italconsult not only mobilised experts but also transferred specific approaches from the Mezzogiorno to the Global South. The origins of some of these ideas can be traced back to the final years of the Second World War and particular groups within the Resistance.