Abstract
This article aims to provide a personal memory of Alberto L’Abate, illustrating the role he played in the Italian non-violent experience. In order to do so, we have to reconstruct the history of non-violent people and movements since 1989, a difficult undertaking which requires going beyond traditional academic settings. In fact, the historiography of non-violent movements requires the passage from a descriptive approach to an interpretative one. After exposing the four development models (MDS) proposed by Lanza del Vasto in the 1950s and then by Galtung in the 1970s, the article frames the political history of the 20th century in the above-mentioned models. Finally, the author offers a brief presentation of the Italian non-violent story, underlining the peculiarities with respect to the European and global panoramas. It is within this framework that L’Abate's activity is located, as illustrated through a table that allows you to graphically grasp its contribution to Italian non-violence.