Posted on 07 May 2014
On Saturday 10 May, the Historical Archives of the European Union will open its doors to the public to celebrate Europe Day 2014. The Open Day will start at 10 a.m. with the inauguration of the exhibition “Europe of Presidents - The Italian Republic and European Integration (1948 - 2014)". The exhibition has been assembled and produced by the Università degli Studi della Tuscia and the Centro Studi sull’Europa Mediterranea (CSSEM) and marks Italy's important contribution and, in particular, that of its presidents to the history of the European Union.
The exhibition aims to familiarise both European and Italian students and citizens with these figures and explain the changing role of the Presidents in the history of the Republic of Italy. Two panels are dedicated to each President of the Republic beginning with Luigi Einaudi and ending with Giorgio Napolitano. One panel is dedicated to each President's election and style while the other underlines the European and international dimension of each mandate. The panels are illustrated through iconographic sources and historical documents, coming mainly from the Historical Archive of the Presidency of the Republic.
The Presidents of the Republic supported Italy's participation in the process of European integration since the early fifties until the birth of the European Union. The exhibition “Europe of Presidents - The Republic of Italy and European Integration (1948 – 2014)” aims to illustrate that pro-Europe orientation. But achievements and setbacks have arisen which are linked to the process of European integration as well as to political and institutional challenges that the European Union is facing at the present time. On the eve of the European elections (22 - 25 May 2014), and the Italian Presidency of the EU Council, the exhibition aims to rediscover the European project's deeper historical roots.
Two panels, dedicated specifically to Italian Presidents, have been added by the Historical Archives of the European Union in order to highlight holdings that contain documents specifically relating to Italian Presidents. These archival documents, therefore, add to the exhibition by focusing on how these figures were seen from the European Institutions' perspective.
The holdings of the Council of the European Union, containing 27.000 paper files dating from 1951 to 1974, is represented by two documents displaying speeches given by Presidents Antonio Segni, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Italian Senate in 1960 and by Giuseppe Saragat during celebrations in Rome to mark the 10th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in 1967. The European Parliament fonds, consisting of 85.000 paper files dating from 1951-1999, is represented with Sandro Pertini's speech to Parliament in Strasbourg in 1985. The European Commission is represented in this exhibition by the private papers of its former Presidents François-Xavier Ortoli and Romano Prodi. Other examples of related documents are also exhibited from private deposits of European politicians, parliamentarians and high-ranking EU officials such as Ernesto Rossi, Uwe Kitzinger and Noël Salter. The Historical Archives of the European Union also acts as a depository for the European University Institute's historical archives. Established in 1976 in Florence, the European University Institute has received continuous support by the Italian Presidents as evidenced in the exhibition by numerous official visits.
Centro Studi sull’Europa Mediterranea (CSSEM)
More about the exhibition
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