The Italian-African Institute is the oldest Italian organisation concerned with Africa, and it is a public agency acting under the sponsorship of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its headquarters are in Rome - Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16, 00197 Rome - and it has eight regional and provincial branches, including those in Turin, Naples, Bologna, Bari and Reggio Calabria.

Its beginnings were in the former ‘Italian Institute for Africa’, founded in 1906, and it carries out the same kind of work but extended and expanded. Its aims include spreading knowledge about Africa and its problems, and forming closer links and friendly cooperation between Italy and Africa.