Posted on 01 December 2015
On December 11 the exhibition "Sicily in Europe, Europe in Sicily" will be opened at the Historical Archives of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. The exhibition commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the Messina Conference, held in 1955 between the Foreign Ministers of the six founding countries of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Italy), during which it was set out the intention of creating a European Atomic Energy Community, and a common market. This aim was then sanctioned with the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), in Rome March 25, 1957.
The Historical Archives of the European Union wishes to commemorate this founding moment of the European integration process with an exhibition of important documents and images - largely unpublished - from its own fonds and from those of the Historical Archives of the Presidency of the Italian Republic and of the Historical Archives of the Senate, enhanced by photographs preserved in the Alinari Archives. The exhibition does not only address the conference as a political event; it also aims to trace the profound cultural, social and economic implications of the relationship between Europe and Sicily, which has been seen as a bridge to the Mediterranean and southern border of Europe since the beginning of the 19th.
The first day of the exhibition will also include discussions by personalities from political, institutional and cultural spheres on the topics addressed by the exhibition and on contemporary approaches to them.
This event will begin at 10.30 and will be introduced by Pier Virgilio Dastoli, President of the Italian Council of the European Movement. The academic discussion will focus on political implications of the Messina Conference for Italy, and will be carried out by professors of the Università di Roma Sapienza. Professor Gentiloni Silveri will address the issue of the bond with Europe in the history of the Italian Republic, while Professor Sandro Guerrieri will deliver a speech on the role played by the common assembly of the ECSA in the Messina Conference. Finally, Professor Francesco Gui will highlight the role of Altieri Spinelli in the preparation of the Messina Conference. The event will finish with a speech by Silvia Costa MEP and President of the Culture Committee of the European Parliament.
More information on the exhibition.