The essay investigates the role and functions of the emigration agents in Italy between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. In particular, it focuses on their abuses towards emigrants and on how legislation tried to cope with them: notwithstanding some administrative acts in matter of public security had been issued during the ‘60s and ‘70s of the 19th century, it was only in 1888 and then in 1901 that two laws were enacted to regulate their activity. The absence of appropriate regulation and, consequently, of any proper control for such a long time contributed to the growth of the intermediaries number and, at the same time, to the diffusion of abuses towards emigrants
