By exploring the price dynamics and business cycles of the Italian economy with reference to the most important international events, this text sheds new light on the country’s current situation. Using a long-term analytical framework underpinned by principal theoretical approaches, the analysis places particular emphasis on price dynamics. The text begins with the country’s post-war difficulties and then covers the boom-and-bust period of the Italian miracle, before moving on to the lasting inflationary process of the /0s and 80s, and finally, the financial crisis of the 90s and the beginning of the new century. The positive and negative aspects of policy measures are also investigated.