China has earned the reputation of being the second economy in the world. The country has shown impressive economic growth over the past decades and is expanding its influence by investing trillions of dollars around the world

Italy’s officially joining the China-led Belt and Road Initiative sparked a fierce debate. By analysing five fields of cooperation, the volume sheds light on whether the bilateral agreement has brought about an intensification of bilateral collaboration as wished by the Italian government as the time and whether the concerns around it have materialized.