From Rousseau and Gramsci to Skinner and Pocock, there is an interpretation of Machiavelli that insists on the themes of realism, of the homeland, of the republican spirit. Machiavelli was not Machiavellian: he left a legacy that is also important today. The litigation communication is a specific cultural field, with its plot and its rules (Bourdieu), but it could loose that part of reality that is outside of the courtroom. Idealism and political correctness dominate the public discourse, but could impoverish knowledge and communication about crime, emphasizing certain themes and excluding others, such as the polymorphic greatness of Italy history.