Alcide De Gasperi is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of European integration and one of the architects of postwar Italian democracy, serving as Italy's Prime Minister 8 times over from 1945 to 1953. Nevertheless, Alcide De Gasperi was an Italian citizen for only half of his life. This seminar focusses on the first and lesser-known phase of De Gasperi’s biography, when he was a citizen of the Habsburg empire.
Drawing from published speeches and writings, as well as sources from De Gasperi's personal archives, Dr. Jacopo Cellini, Research Fellow at the Alcide De Gasperi Research Centre will focus in particular on De Gasperi’s approach to the issues of nation and nationalism, and how it changed over the years up until the end of the First World War.
Prof. Pieter Judson, part-time professor in the History Department of the EUI, will discuss.
The Alcide De Gasperi Centre supports researchers working in areas related to the history of European integration and cooperation. It coordinates networks of historians, facilitates the use of primary sources and increases public interest in the history of European integration.
Cameo image: Alcide De Gasperi at age 21 (public domain).
Background image: Modified photo of lithograph of the University of Vienna, circa 1900. Source: Wikimedia commons, public domain