The purpose of this report is to analyse and summarise the poverty reduction policy of Italian official development assistance (ODA). Among the different and changing motives of Italian aid, the greatest importance is attached to those that involve Italian interests: security objectives, commercial interests and the international prestige of Italy. Commercial policy helped to prevent the emergence of a coherent poverty reduction policy. Even when humanitarian interests were important, as in the 1980s, Italy made the needs of beneficiary countries conditional on its own interests: an extremely high proportion of tied aid and investment was in economic infrastructure constructed by Italian enterprises, as well as seeking political support from friendly governments.