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‪Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918) was the most important Italian representative of social Catholicism. In the 1870s he explored the Italian economic reality with the utmost attention. In the 1880s, influenced by the German Historical School, Toniolo focused more on Italy’s economic past, as well as on its cultural traditions. At the end of the century, he returned to the present and concentrated on the question of capitalism, which in his view had caused a break with the past and jeopardized the social cohesion not only of Italian society, but also of Europe as a whole. He was also interested in the economic, political and social mechanisms likely to ease class tensions and, consequently, to prevent the advance of socialism.‪