The article deals with Claudio Pavone’s historical research on the Italian national tradition (the so-called “Risorgimento”) and its political and sym­bolic uses by both fascists and antifascists. By questioning the interpreta­tion of the Resistance as a “Second Risorgimento”, Pavone path-breaking­ly acknowledged the mass nature of the fascist regime, which was based on the nation-building between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. At the same time, he investigated the contest between fascists and antifascists over the meanings of Risorgimento, by emphasizing the differ­ence between (fascist) nationalism and (antifascist) patriotism. A critical reassessment of Pavone’s position contributes to questioning this differ­ence in the context of the discussion of the late 1950s and of the long-term trajectory of his historiographical work.