During the first half of the 1990s, it seemed that Italy was in danger of disintegration. But if we assume that modern Italy is essentially fraudulent, we will not understand why Italy remains intact at the end of the 20th century, nor will we understand the unique kind of nation which Italians have created for themselves. This work proceeds with the working assumption that Italy is indeed a nation, albeit it of a particular kind, and offers a detailed discussion of its historical development. It argues that the exigencies of state-formation were more important in the founding of the kingdom of Italy than nationalism, and then argues that early failures to engineer an Italian national consciousness were due to the state's refusal to integrate local cultures into a consolidated national culture. Rather, a nation was gradually developed from within society, through the construction of a public sphere, through mass communications, migration movements, and mass consumerism. This account discusses civic culture, state and society, and nationalism itself.