Lectio Degasperiana 2017: Here Are the Texts of the Lectures by Letta and Cornelissen

The 14th edition of Lectio degasperiana, a public event organized by the Trentino-based Alcide Degasperi Foundation to honor, on the anniversary of his death, the memory of the Trentino statesman after whom the foundation is named, was held at Pieve Tesino on August 18.

This year’s lecture was entrusted to Enrico Letta and Christoph Cornelissen who talked in front of an audience of over 400 participants and numerous personalities on “De Gasperi – Adenauer”. Italy – Germany. yesterday, and today?”

ISIG Director, Christoph Cornelissen, focused specifically on some stages of the post-1945 German and Italian politics with the aim to provide an answer, even if partial, to why, in times of crisis, the dark sides of the history of the Italian-German relations often return to the foreground, eliciting negative emotions in people.

Enrico Letta, on the other hand, developed his own lecture with a question: “Could the end of the privileged, intense and positive relationship between Italy and Germany have originated the imbalances that have characterized European life recently?- and went on – At the heart of the Lectio degasperiana, which I am called today (August 18) to hold on the annual celebration of the anniversary of the death of Alcide De Gasperi in his native town of Pieve Tesino, lies this question precisely,  leading to a special interpretation of the European crisis linked to the relationship, once lively and creative, now interrupted and conflicting between Italy and Germany, two European countries so different but at the same time complementary to each other. ”

The texts of the two lectures (in Italian) – an excerpt of Letta’s and the full speech od Cornelissen’s – are available at the links below.

Cover Photo credits: Ufficio Stampa PaT

Lecture texts:  Fondazione Trentina Alcide Degasperi