L'altra faccia della cooperazione lombarda. Origini e sviluppi della cooperazione bianca in Lombardia

The paper reconstructs the most characteristic features of confessional cooperation in Lombardy, from its origins to the present. Two elements are investigated with particular attention: on the one hand, the strong territorial roots of the Catholic cooperative experience, thanks also to the decisive support function of the credit cooperatives; on the other hand, the controversial formation of a vertical structure that institutionalized the natural tendency of cooperatives to "network". The paper analyses these dynamics with particular reference to the case of Lombardy, one of the most influential within the national cooperative movement.