In the shadow of the Vatican Texas Evangelical Missionaries in Cold War Italy

The seminar will discuss Professor Del Pero’s recently published In the Shadow of the Vatican: Texan Evangelical Missionaries in Cold War Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2025). 

It will explore some key methodological and historiographical aspects of his research, with particular attention to how the book tries to employ microhistorical categories and lenses to illuminate the nature of the Cold War as a global condition, driving forms of integration – diplomatic, geopolitical, cultural – that affected all the actors involved in the remarkable story of a group of US evangelical missionaries in post World War II Italy.

Mario Del Pero is a Professor of International History at SciencesPo’s Centre d’Histoire, specializing in U.S. history, global history, and transatlantic relations. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at ISPI in Milan and the author of numerous books and articles. His 2025 publications include Buio Americano and In the Shadow of the Vatican. He writes for major newspapers and regularly comments on U.S. and international politics for leading Italian TV and radio networks.