Interviews with the leadership of the Movimento Friuli (MF) were the last task, almost a postscript, of a study that preoccupied me during the 1980s. After a decade of research in the Friuli region of northeast Italy I was reasonably satisfied that I had achieved something like closure on the project. I was reluctant in the summer of 1987 to open any new lines of inquiry that might disturb my contentment.