Turtledove, Harry. "The Maltese Elephant"
Published: In Analog, August 1995; and Counting Up, Counting Down, Ballantine/Del Rey 2002 (0345442261BUY), 2005 (0345477987BUY).
Original in: English.
Translation: Italian by Davide Cocchi as "L'elefante maltese", in Analog Fantascienza , Phoenix Enterprise 1995.