The Department was born as an interdisciplinary widening of a consolidated cultural and methodological approach based for the most part on the criteria professed by Mario Romani founder in 1961 of the Institute of Social and Economic History and the Archivio per la storia del movimento sociale cattolico in Italia, which subsequently took his name. Under Romani’s direction (1961-1975), the Institute's activities were focused on research on the modern and contemporary eras, applied with methodological scheme, historiographic originality, and particular attention to the cultural and social effects of scientific work. Connecting historical knowledge with the effort to understand the vital problems of the present has always characterized a department dedicated to the study of the strength, stability and potential of developmental processes with regard to their economic, social and civil impact. Particular attention is given to the world of labour and to the integral emancipation of workers, considering their needs, interests, and expectations. In practicing the historian’s profession, Romani and his students sought to examine the features and trends of the modern-contemporary Italian economy in order to identify the reasons for the delays in the processes of development and modernization in our country.

On the didactic level, Romani and his collaborators taught the Economic History program (launched in the academic year 1947/48 with Amintore Fanfani, in correspondence to the founding of the Facoltà di Economia e commercio). In the academic year 1966/67, the History of Labour Relation program was launched under the guidance of Sergio Zaninelli (formerly a voluntary adjunct since 1959).
Starting in academic year 1969/70, a course in Economic History of Italian Unification was created, taught, given by Prof. Romani himself.

After the sudden passing of Prof. Romani, in the thirty years of Sergio Zaninelli's leadership (1975-2004), the collaborators of the Institute confirmed their commitment to the critical use of sources and to identifying the chronological and causal links between economic and social factors in a wide range of collective and individual research projects aimed at consolidating the importance of economic history within the historical disciplines. On the basis of Romani's studies, they devoted themselves to the enrichment of knowledge of the complex Lombard and Italian transition from the mercantile/agricultural balance of the 18th and 19th centuries to the evolved and contradictory structures of the industrial society that emerged in the first decades of the 20th century. Of particular importance are the collective studies on the land register of Maria Teresa Empress (Hausburg Empire), the industrialization of Como and Lombardy, the production of bibliographic essays, and critical editions of unpublished sources. Sergio Zaninelli's direction was also distinguished by his contribution to elevating the importance of historical and economic research in two historiographical genres that for too long were considered minor: the history of labour (in particular of organized labour) and the History of the Catholic social movement.

From 2004 to 2007, under the direction of Alberto Cova the Institute continued to uphold the scientific and cultural heritage of an academic institution whose collective commitment earned it constant scientific recognition at the national level, as evidenced by the approval and implementation of numerous research projects of national importance. The criteria that inspired Alberto Cova's direction, along with his collaborative and open management style, opened the door to a disciplinary integration in the field of historical and geographical sciences that gave the Department its current form.