While the American-Italian relationship can be traced back to Columbus' discovery of the New World, it came to prominence with the surge
of Italian immigration to the United States in the second half
of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th.
Today's close relationship dates essentially from the closing years
of World War II, when the United States played a key role in the Allied effort to liberate Italy.
In the period of economic and institutional reconstruction in Italy
that followed, the farsighted generosity of American aid sowed
the seeds of a bilateral cooperation that has grown within
the transatlantic framework.
Italy has gradually emerged as an important actor in the process
of European integration, in the formulation of a common Western
security and defense policy, and in the increasingly interdependent economic system of the West through its memberships in the European Union, NATO, and the G8.

The potential conflicts among these different processes have been contained and reduced, first by the leadership of the United States,
which has consistently favored European integration, and then
by an expanded American-European partnership, which has played
an increasingly international role.
In this context, Italian foreign policy has reconciled European
priorities with a firm commitment to the transatlantic relationship.
As the broad network of US-Italian relations developed ranging widely across the fields of politics, economics, business, science, and culture,
the idea emerged of establishing a private organization to enhance
and broaden cooperation between the two countries, and also
between the United States and Europe.

Thus, a group of prestigious individuals, companies, and organizations from both countries, spearheaded by Gianni Agnelli and David Rockefeller, came together to establish the Council for the United States and Italy
at a meeting in Venice in 1983.
Under the leadership of Agnelli and Rockefeller, who served as honorary chairmen until 2003, the Council increased its membership and expanded its activities over more than two decades of existence.