ABSTRACT
The chapter explores Italians' rethinking of Europe over the last fifteen years in the context of the end of the Cold War and the process of EU-Enlargement eastward. The chapter analyses Italians' post-1989 rediscovery of the 'Europeanness' of countries such as Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia and investigates the role played in the revival of the notion of 'Central Europe' by a number of actors such as: 1) the transregional organization A/pen Adria (set up in 1978), 2) the post-1989 Italian government's initiatives such as the Quadrangolare (the latter included Austria, Hungary, Italy and Yugoslavia and was later joined by Czechoslovakia and Poland), 3) the Catholic Church and 4) the ethno-nationalist Northern League Party. The popularity of , Mittel european' literature and the recent historiographical re-assessment of the Austria-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as its contribution to the spread of the 'Hapsburg myth', are also considered. Lastly, the role played by cultural factors - i.e. collective memory and national identity - is also discussed, particularly in relation to the representation of post-Yugoslav states such as Slovenia and Croatia.
