In the nineteenth century a woman’s place was considered to be in the home. During the Risorgimento and the years following the Unification of Italy in 1861, economic, political and social changes enabled women to engage in pursuits that had previously been the exclusive domain of men. This book traces this shift in cultural perception.

The series aims to publish innovative research on the written, material and visual cultures and intellectual history of modern Italy, from the 19th century to the present day. It is especially interested in work which articulates aspects of Italy's particular, and in many respects, peculiar, interactions with notions of modernity and postmodernity, broadly understood. It also aims to encourage critical dialogue between new developments in scholarship in Italy and in the English-speaking world.

The law that abolished mental asylums in Italy in 1978 was nicknamed the ‘Basaglia Law’, after the physician whose work had revolutionised psychiatry in Italy and worldwide: Franco Basaglia (1924-1980). This book shows that his work is still powerful and relevant to contemporary debates about biopolitics.

Due to its strategic Mediterranean position, Italy is a crossroad of complex transnational movements, a unique context for the study of contemporary migration. This book brings together scholars from migration studies, linguistics, media, literature and film studies, as well practitioners and activists, to explore Italy as a destination country.