A Problematic Involvement: Free France, the Advisory Council, and the Allied Occupation of Italy, 1943–44 Marco Maria Aterrano Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World, University of Padua, Padua, Italy ABSTRACT The article explores the diplomatic and political processes that led the British, the Americans and the Soviets to accept the participation of French representatives in the machinery of the Allied military govern- ment in occupied Italy during the post-armistice period. Their presence at the heart of policy-making for Italy was the result of a long and heated debate between London, ever the supporter of de Gaulle and the Free French, and Washington, which was firmly against diluting its share of power in Italian matters. By analyzing both the politico-institu- tional relations that were slowly rebuilt between the French and the Italian governments during those months and, in particular, the contri- bution made to the activities of the Advisory Council, the author seeks to highlight how the French efforts to be included in the Italian affairs were instrumental in regaining their standing among the Allies. At the same time, it also seeks to evaluate the French contribution in shaping the Italian institutional transition, and discusses the emergence of a coherent postwar French policy towards Italy. KEYWORDS Franco-Italian relations; Allied occupation of Italy; Advisory Council for Italy; French foreign policy; World War II Introduction Over the past decades, many studies have been published on Franco-Italian relations during the Second World War À in both military and diplomatic domains. 1 The period and issues relating to the Italian occupation of France have been the subject of research as much as those concerning the French occupation of Italy. 2 Yet, the historiographical landscape presented by these studies still presents a few gaps, and would benefit from further research. Among the relatively forgot- ten aspects of the crucial 1943-1944 period, the implementation of a French policy in Italy through institutional channels dominated by the Anglo-American powers during the Allied occu- pation of the country has been systematically marginalized, if not ignored altogether. This article argues that the processes that led the British, the Americans and the Soviets to accept French participation in the Allied machinery for occupied Italy enabled the Comit e Franc¸ais de Lib eration Nationale (CFLN) to develop a multilayered policy towards Italy and to advance the French position substantially both in the wartime inter-allied debates and in the definition of the postwar order. They offer an insight into the challenges of Allied policy-making and shed new light on the structures and goals of the transition that Italy experienced under the guidance of the occupying forces. After the “conditional” surrender imposed upon the Italian government in September 1943, the Anglo-American forces asserted their military jurisdiction over the southern regions of the CONTACT Marco Maria Aterrano marco.aterrano@gmail.com ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY REVIEW 2021, VOL. 43, NO. 4, 720–735 https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2020.1822906