The Italian Perspective

While not being an Arctic Country and having historically its main geopolitical, geo-strategic and geo-economic space in the wide Mediterranean basin, Italy has shown a significant set of interests in the Arctic area, together with a relevant presence on different domains. Italian involvement in the Arctic dates to the end of the XIX Century and has been developing at different moments and levels throughout the XX Century, up to the new Millennium. The relationship between the Arctic and Italy is strongly grass-rooted in the past but has been developed also with a forward-looking attitude into the future. The Italian membership in the Arctic Council finds its roots in both these factors and testifies the will of the Italian institutions, at political-institutional and scientific level, to play an important role in the international management of the nowadays and future challenges the North Pole and the Arctic region have and will have to cope with. To categorize the main extent to which Italy relates to the Arctic, we could identify: - the historical-cultural bond with the region thanks to the Italian explorers who took part in the discovery and scientific missions in the Arctic Circle and beyond; - the political involvement of the country in the main regional organization, the Arctic Council, formalized in 2013; - a scientific involvement in the environmental and natural dimensions of the climate change dynamics of the area; - the increasing importance of the Arctic Ocean and of the surrounding territories for what concerns the extraction of energy resources, rare earth elements and critical raw materials; - the monitoring on the feasibility of the “real” opening of Arctic communication sealines and trade routes; - and, last but not least, the economic opportunities linked with the economic development of the Arctic region, where directly or indirectly, Italian economic operators are already being active and the Italian institutions responsible for directing and supporting the commercial relations and foreign investments of Italian companies are evaluating the value of this area in a more strategic way. The “Italian Arctic Strategy” formulated in 2015, then updated in2016, defined the different and Italian Arctic interests, highlighted in five main dimensions: political, environmental, human, scientific, and economic. The latter one, together with the Energy and Security dimensions will be analyzed throughout this chapter.