ABSTRACT
Detailed scrutiny of the alcohol phenomenon in Italy suggests that an alcohol policy that took account of specific cultural circumstances, rather than being modelled on policies developed in other cultural settings, would be more effective in controlling alcohol consumption. In terms of effectiveness, this is much like the difference between a suit made by a bespoke tailor and hand-me-down clothes. Arriving at such well-tailored policies calls for a critical assessment of research and solutions developed in countries with different drinking patterns (Peele, 2010), but this can only be done if legislators have the political courage genuinely to support national research on alcohol, where social science, as we have seen, can make an important contribution. The argument would be even more powerful if social scientists could find a way to break down the wall of silence created by the current ownership of the problem. This is particularly true for those countries, as in the Mediterranean region, where social science research in the alcohol field is less advanced or was established later than in other developed countries.
