Summary — "Other Italy" is an expression Spadolini has often used in his historical essays as well as in his political interventions. With this semantic difference that the author enlightens through a series of quotations from Spadolini "the historian", "the politician", "a member of Parliament", "a defender of the institutions". When Spadolini makes use of the expression "the other Italy", he looks into the past, back to the end of the XVIII century and the beginning of XIX, to such events as the contributions given by those minority groups (radicals, republicans, socialists on the one hand and catholics on the other) often kept in the dark or even forgotten about by those who always preferred to relate history "from the winning side".

But when Spadolini makes use of the expression "another Italy", he considers mostly the future since he tries to point out what should be the line of development, evolution and progress of an Italy capable at last of building a system of real democracy based on the great principles of political freedom, social justice, integration with other European people. In fact, the author explains, whether Spadolini meant "the other Italy" with a look at the world of yesterday or "another Italy" with a look at the world of tomorrow, he always refused the image of an Italy always wanting to be Number One. His ethical-political will can be summarized in the words he said in the Spring of 1980 "A minority Italy, always. An Italy of losers as well? We don’t feel lonely and we are not in a hurry".