A widespread accepted view about theItalian political crisis, which goes back to the end of the Cold War, is that thepresence of the largest Western communist party halted any possible change ingovernment and encouraged corruption. The article proposes an alternative interpre-tation and locates the origin of the current crisis to the 1980s, when Italian politicslost its reforming drive and the most entrepreneurial sector of civil society chose toabandon it in order to develop the so-called "Third Italy" composed of smallenterprises and self-employment.
Keywords: Politica, partiti politici, guerra fredda, anni ’80, piccole e medie im-prese, Terza Italia, lavoro autonomo