Posted on 27 May 2020
The private papers of the Italian politician and lawyer Giancarlo Zoli deposited at the HAEU in November 2018 were processed by HAEU archivists and are now open for consultation in the reading room at Villa Salviati.
The rich collection consists of 588 paper files, and is composed of documents regarding Zoli’s life and political career. It also refers to the activities of his father Adone Zoli, who served as the Italian Minister of Justice (26 July 1956 to 16 July 1953), Minister of Finance (18 January 1954 to 10 February 1954), Minister of Budget (19 February 1956 to 1 July 1958), Senator and Prime Minister (20 May 1957 to 1 July 1958). The GZ fonds also includes 252 photographs and 2 photographic albums (mostly black and white positives but also aristotypes), mainly depicting events attended by Giancarlo and Adone Zoli (and other family members) between the 1950s and the 1980s, in Florence but also in other European cities including Venice, Milano, Rome and Wien.
Giancarlo Zoli was born on 7 September 1917 in Bologna, Italy. Son of Adone Zoli and member of the Italian resistance in Florence, Giancarlo Zoli was arrested by the Banda Carità in 1943 and imprisoned in Villa Triste and then in Fortezza da Basso from 11 November to 21 December 1943, together with his father and brother. He worked as a lawyer most of his life, beginning his political career in 1956 when he was appointed city adviser for the Democrazia Cristiana, serving under the mayorships of Giorgio La Pira and Luciano Bausi. In 1953, he became a member of the European Federalist Movement, of which he was a leader. He participated from 1956 onwards in the activities of the Council of European Municipalities (then Council of European Municipalities and Regions) (CCRE) and was a member of the Economic and Social Committee of the EEC (EESC) for twenty years. He was also a significant figure at the Istituto Storico della Resistenza in Toscana and briefly served as the mayor of Florence from 12 September to 10 October 1974.
Giancarlo Zoli passed away on 25 April 2007 in Florence. His papers were deposited at the Historical Archives of European Union in Florence under the terms of a deposit contract signed between the Centro Studi di Politica Economica e Sociale Fondazione Adone Zoli and the HAEU in November 2018.
Consult the inventory of Giancarlo Zoli’s fonds preserved in the HAEU here.