The history of Confindustria, fresh from celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary, is an important chapter in the history of Italy from the early twentieth century to the present day. One of the defining elements of Italy has been the evolution and modernization of its productive system and the constant debate between business leaders and the world of politics, including the sometimes turbulent dialectics with workers' organizations. Right up to the current crucial challenges of globalization. In these pages, the history of Confindustria is explored based on a vast store of documentation. On the one hand, the alternate and controversial dynamics of the industrial system and the changes that followed in the composition and internal dynamics of the business world; on the other, the gradual affirmation of positions and experiences which, also due to the expansion of many small firms, have characterized businesses' central role in the country's economic and social reality. The author also examines the intrigues and clashes that have characterized Confindustria's relations with political power, the parties and schools of opinion from the liberal era to the years of Fascism and from the first to the Second Republic.