The primary task of a historian of Italian semiotics is to illuminate a few nodal points which stem from some often contradictory indications. One fact, for instance, may conceal several others, and one suggestion may be masked by limitations and contradictory facts. This new discipline, in fact, achieved a preeminent position in a very short time—during the late sixties—after a long and silent period of groundlaying. The reorganization that took place in several kindred areas of scholarly research set the stage for the sudden success of semiotics in Italy. Its emergence on the Italian scene was fostered by traditional and modern influences from France and the United States and by quite original Italian contributions.