Add to ORKGThe relationship between financial development and economic growth has received enormous attention in the economic literature in the last decade. The widely accepted consensus finding is that financial development has a positive effect on growth at either aggregate, or industry or firm levels, while less support has received the impact of financial structure on growth. This paper aims at providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical findings by pointing out that the finance-growth nexus was present in the research agenda of Italian economists since the Seventies and is still alive. More specifically, however, the paper tries to elucidate what financial structure, banks or markets, is more conducive to economic growth