ABSTRACT
The author born in 1932, is professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna and is author of The Name of the Rose and Foucaulfs Pendulum. It is an unavoidable process because a country with one tradition and one language has the right to find unity for itself. Germany has a similar history to Italy's. In the last century both tried to establish themselves as separate countries. When the author meet German people of my generation he find people who have a sense of their historical responsibility for what Nazism had been. If people looks at the historical background of Germany you see almost a neurotic split personality. On the other hand, there is a part of German culture that is constantly critical of itself, much like Italians are. The Italian national sport is self-criticism.
