Gli inizi della Unione Matematica Italiana e del suo Bollettino

The Unione Matematica Italiana (UMI), in contrast to its main sister institutions, was not created to satisfy needs within the Italian community, but instead owes its founding to international spurs and decisions made higher up. This is certainly one of the factors that underlies the initial lack of an unanimous consensus on the part of Italian mathematicians. Another important factor is the particular international situation that had been created in the period following World War I, which made it difficult to restore scientific collaboration among the countries involved. The historical archives of the UMI conserve a rich collection of unpublished documents regarding the earliest phase of the new society, which shed new light on some of the aspects that have not been properly clarified until now. The recent re-ordering of the archives, now almost complete, will favour further research regarding not only the first period, but the entire history of the UMI, making available documents that are rigorously organised and easy to consult. On the basis of the documents it has been possible to consult at this point, in what follows I will provide an overview of the beginnings of the UMI (1922-1926), delineating some lines of research that have not yet been completely explored: the problematic beginnings of the UMI; the international models for the new society; the role of the «Bollettino della Unione Matematica Italiana».