During the first decades of the last century Italian mathematics was considered to be the third national school due to its importance and the high level of its numerous - searchers. The decision to organize the 1908 International Congress of Mathematicians in Rome (after those in Paris and Heidelberg) confirmed this position. Qualified Italian universities were permanently included in the tour organized for young mathematicians’ improvement. Even in the years after the First World War, Rome (together with Paris and Göttingen) remained an important mathematical center according to the American ma- ematician G. D. Birkhoff. Now, after almost a century, we can state that the golden age of Italian mathem- th th ics reduces to the decades between the 19 and the 20 century. In the centre of interest stood the algebraic geometry school with Guido Calstelnuovo, Federico Enriques and Francesco Severi acting as key figures. Their work led to an almost complete systema- zation of the theory of curves to the complete classification of the surfaces and to the bases of a general theory of algebraic varieties. Other important contributions came from the Italian school of analysis. Its main representative was Vito Volterra – an outstanding analyst with a strong interest in mathematical physics – who produced important results in real analysis and the theory of integral equations and contributed to the initiation of functional analysis.
This book describes Italian mathematics in the period between the two World Wars. We analyze its development by focusing on both the interior and the external influences. Italian mathematics in that period was shaped by a colorful array of strong personalities who concentrated their efforts on a select number of fields and won international recognition and respect in an incredibly short time. Consequently, Italy was considered a third "mathematical power" after France and Germany, and qualified Italian universities became indispensable stops on the "tour", organized for the improvement of young foreign mathematicians. In the 1930s Italian mathematics had to face the increasing growth of other countries' mathematics, which forced consideration of new mathematical topics. This comparison between the interior and exterior perspective makes this history particularly compelling. At that time, Italy was also dominated by a fascist regime. This political situation and the social and academic structure of Italian society are included in the analysis as influences external to mathematics itself. The authors have provided a fascinating study of a most difficult time in the history of the world and of mathematics.
