The visit of the German Ambassador Viktor Elbling to FBK

“The Italian-German Historical Institute”, Cornelißen stated, “is very pleased to greet here in Trento the German Ambassador, His Excellency Elbling. This visit is a reinforcement of our many Italian-German activities and with other national and international partners. Since the founding of ISIG, the focus of our research and dissemination work has always been to foster a constant dialogue with the historiography  of the German-speaking area. That is why the Ambassador’s visit is an important signal in support of our activities in this field. At the same time, ISIG also aims to contribute to transnational exchange in Europe and in other non-European countries. To this end, in addition to constantly planning various events to engage the public of the city and the region, every year we organise the Study Week that attracts renowned representatives in the international scientific field to FBK”.

Director Cornelißen and the researchers then recounted the history of ISIG which, since its foundation in 1973, has been an important junction in the dialogue among the different European historiographies, with special regard to the Italian and German ones. The projects carried out at the institute in collaboration with German and international universities and research organisations were then presented. Finally, the Director of the Foundation’s Digital Society Centre, Marco Pistore, presented the activities of the Centre, including the 5G Carmen project, in collaboration with several German companies and coordinated by FBK as part of the “Horizon 2020” Framework Programme.

The Italian-German Historical Institute of FBK

The Italian-German Historical Institute of FBK is a research centre of excellence for international scientific dialogue. It focuses specifically on the history of Italy and Germany, always within the wider European context, from the earliest modernity to the present day. The ISIG research team includes permanent researchers, collaborators and fellows, who develop projects with other institutions and perform individual studies in the field of political, religious, social, cultural, legal and economic history. Research activities are highly interdisciplinary, transnational and in constant dialogue with the latest international historiographic trends. The Centre has a specialized library, which houses one of the largest collections in the field of Italian-German historical literature. ISIG also carries on an important editorial activity through books and periodicals with which it disseminates the results of individual and collective research performed mainly by internal researchers, but also by external scholars who collaborate with the Centre.