How two peninsular countries, crossroads of civilizations and cosmopolitanism, have influenced each other throughout history, up to the present day.

This volume sheds light on political aspects of the influence of Italian intellectuals on independence movements in India, as well as cultural exchanges in literature and the arts between the two countries from the 18th century to the 1980s. This rarely explored subject is approached from an angle inspired by shared history. It draws on major figures, both famous and overlooked, who embodied influential ideas and movements: travelers, missionaries, politicians, educators, curators, writers, and filmmakers, including Rabindranath Tagore, Giuseppe Mazzini, Antonio Gramsci, Maria Montessori, Ranajit Guha and Roberto Rossellini.