Ventotene and Santo Stefano Historical Capitals of Moral and Intellectual Construction of European Values

Nicola Vallinoto
Computer scientist and international democracy activist

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on 6th April, 2022 concerning the implementation of citizenship education actions. The text proposed by Salvatore De Meo (PPE) and Domenec Ruiz Devesa (S&D) “considers that the island of Ventotene and its Manifesto have played a decisive role in the history of European integration; stresses its role as an emblematic place of memory for European integration and for the protection of European common values; highlights its contribution to fostering European citizenship education, in particular through the active involvement of young people in its annual seminar on European integration, initiated by Altiero Spinelli in 1982; stresses also the symbolic importance of the works to reclaim the Prison of Santo Stefano and its potential to become a center of reference for permanent cultural exchange, public events, exhibitions and debate; therefore considers it a historical capital of the moral and intellectual construction of European values”.

The EP resolution “highlights the role of the House of European History in furthering the development of specific programmes, instruments and activities that build up a cogent narrative of European integration and its basic values, in particular for students and teachers at all levels of education; asks the Commission to cooperate with Parliament in assessing means to decentralise the House of European History in order to broaden accessibility, including from the Member States and, in particular, the educational community, through, among other initiatives, enhanced collaboration with Member States’ cultural institutions, roving exhibitions and a network of permanent delegations”.

On 28^th April 2022, the European Commission awarded the European Heritage Label to 12 sites that have played a significant role in the history and culture of Europe and the building of the European Union. The Ventotene Manifesto has been awarded the Label with the following explanation: “An area of confinement since ancient times, Ventotene has always been a place where cultures meet, becoming a political laboratory for reflection on European values of democracy and freedom. The outcome of this encounter was the Ventotene Manifesto, which, by envisaging a federal government, laid the foundations for the modern idea of a united Europe. The Ventotene Manifesto, officially entitled “For a free and United Europe”, was signed in 1941 by Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi who both were kept in the prison camp in Ventotene that was built in 1939 to exile opponents of the fascist regime. The Ventotene Manifesto is a key document, encompassing values such as democracy, solidarity and freedom into a future foundation of a common and strong Europe. Nowadays, the city of Ventotene continues to develop initiatives that confirm this role so as to become a place of education on Europe and of reflection on how to develop the federalist perspective suggested in the Manifesto itself.”

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, affirmed that “Cultural heritage is Europe’s soul. These beautiful sites embody our rich history, they are geographical manifestations of who we are. The European Heritage Label sites are amongst the greatest gifts Europe has to offer and it is our duty to preserve them at all costs.”