With the opening of the celebrations for its 100th anniversary, the First World War has become again a "hot" topic, around which conflicting memories and interpretations have re-emerged, based on approaches which frequently reflect political rifts as well as national and international unresolved tensions. The publication of new studies on 1914, the outbreak of the Great War, its causes and whether it was avoidable or not, re-ignited the historiographic debate. On the one hand, newest historiography pointed out that only a transnational perspective, giving significance, comparing and contextualizing local, regional and national studies, leads to a genuinely fruitful investigation of the Great War; on the other hand, the public debate is still dominated by discussions defined according to the political agenda and the cultural interests associated with specific regional or local situations, ushering in a number of commemorations which sometimes turn into celebrations. The year of the beginning of the Great War is still one of the most complex and debated issues in contemporary history.
Keywords: 1914, Grande guerra, Centenario della prima guerra mondiale, Storiografia, Storia pubblica