Standard narratives of European integration deem Euratom as a failure and an early application of the logic of juste retour. Though this might be broadly correct, there is a major exception, i.e. fusion research. A prominent role in this successful story was played by an Italian physicist, Donato Palumbo, the “visionary father of the European Fusion Programme”, as former JET director Jean Jacquinot put it. The story of the fusion program is deeply indebted to Palumbo’s recollections as presented in a number of occasions since the 1980s. This chapter sheds light on the relevance of the Italian input – more broadly intended – to the European Fusion Programme, viewed as a story of multiple interconnecting layers at the laboratory, national, European, and international levels.
