Abstract: Fernanda Pivano played an essential role in the dissemination of American literature in the Italian post-war publishing market. She translated and popularized authors such as Hemingway and Faulkner, and discovered and sponsored the Beat Generation authors. This chapter explores the authorial and institutional interactions that shaped Fernanda Pivano’s trajectory as a cultural broker and as one of the most influential gatekeepers of American culture in post-war Italy.