The author aims to reconstruct two Italian police delegations to Portugal, which took place in the spring of 1908 and the first months of 1909. In particular, the article explores the biographies of the three commissari – officials of the Italian civil police, the Pubblica Sicurezza – who were sent on these two missions, as well as the arrangements they made during their stay in Portugal. The Italian policemen, called in following the political and institutional crisis caused by the assassination of the Portuguese king Carlos I, had the objective of reorganising the security services around the institutional palaces, helping the government in the reform of the police and, finally, assisting their Lusitanian colleagues in the investigation of the assassination attempt on the king. The essay aims to place this case study within transnational policing studies, with the intention of making a first contribution that answers the following questions: how much and how were relations between the police forces of different countries organised? What criteria were used to select personnel for these international police missions? How much did the transnationality and internationalisation of the police contribute to their modernisation and professionalisation?
