Poverty has always been and still is one of the biggest social plagues which affect humanity. One of the reasons why it is difficult to root it out is that access to credit is often denied to poor people or to people who cannot offer solid guarantees and stability. This obstacle gives place to a vicious circle which is difficult to stop. Microcredit was born to represent one of the possible solutions to this problem. The purpose of the present work is to carry out a deep analysis of the roots, the developments, the achievements and the limits of this non-traditional form of credit to try to understand how and to what extent it has actually impacted the life of the poorest or less fortunate. The typologies of microcredit, the institutions allowed to grant it and "the other side of the coin", such as high interest rates, are also described from a technical and financial point of view, with a particular focus on the Italian experience.