The first part of the article illustrates the connections between the debate on "ISAAR(CPF)" and archival authority control and the discussions about the nature of archives and their relationships with their creators that have taken place within the Italian archival community during the twentieth century. The second part of the article offers some examples of the way in which authority control for creators and separate linked descriptions of archival materials and creators have been implemented in three archival descriptive systems developed recently in Italy ("Guida on line dell'Archivio di Stato di Firenze; Sistema Informativo Unificato Soprintendenze Archivistiche; Archivi storici della Lombardia"). Some issues arising from this new descriptive approach are also discussed. (Contains 10 figures and 33 notes.)