The article explores the dialogue between the Italian "micro-history" and the British social history, mainly through the work of the genovese historian Edoardo Grendi. Specially the relatioship between Grendi's and Edward Thompson's works shows that the questions concerning social history were a central issue in the development of fundamental themes in micro-history such as: the constituition of social groups, the cutural meaning of their action, the agency and the question of social change
