The correspondence between Franco Fortini and Rossana Rossanda spans from 1951 to 1993. The long dialogue between the two correspondents addresses the most diverse moments and events of the second half of the twentieth century in Italy: from the Casa della Cultura in Milan to cinema and mass media, from the political and cultural role of il manifesto to various electoral moments, two of the sharpest minds of the last century clash and reunite for more than forty years, in a bond of friendship that, despite its abrupt interruptions, never ceased. Fortini attacks, Rossanda defends and responds, and in recognizing in each other the same perspective, focused on the same issue, they develop the broad reflections that would accompany them through the most complex, and sometimes painful, years of intellectual and political activism on the left in Italy.