Posted on 09 May 2018
One of our visiting researchers, Maria Pia di Nonno, recently won the “Altiero Spinelli Prize for Outreach: Spreading knowledge about Europe”.
Her research project ‘Founding Mothers of Europe’, which puts a spotlight on the woman who helped build Europe, received a second prize.
The prize, which was launched only last year, is open to individuals or groups who were able to contribute, through their projects, to articulating what Europe stands for today and tomorrow and why European citizens should "fall in love with Europe" despite its imperfections.
“When I received the first e-mail from the European Commission - in which they told me that I had been shortlisted for a Second Prize, I thought: ‘It cannot be real, maybe this is a mistake” says Maria Pia di Nonno, Phd student in the History of Europe at La Sapienza Università di Roma. She was even more surprised when she later received the formal letter declaring that she had in fact won an award.
“I hope that my story will motivate other young Europeans to pursue their aims, projects and dreams,” she adds.
Her project ‘Founding Mothers of Europe’ aims to encourage a new way of perceiving Europe by recounting the lives of women who helped building Europe and by looking for the soul and the sense of responsibility for Europe. To achieve this, Maria Pia took matters in her own hands and found “a way to give a personal contribution to the European integration process”.
With the help of many supportive people along the way, Maria Pia launched her project beginning with a series of conferences, then the exhibition itself and also a series of books. Her exhibition travelled to over 30 locations in Italy and abroad and reached around 30.000 people.
The Historical Archives of the European Union also played an important role in her project. Maria Pia attended a conference about Fausta Deshormes La Valle in 2015, where she had the “opportunity to meet exceptional researchers as well as relatives and colleagues of Fausta Deshormes La Valle”. Later she also came back to do research using our holdings.
“The Historical Archives of the European Union represent an incredible treasure and they are an instrument to better understand the strength and the weak points of the European integration process,” she explains.
The award ceremony for the Altiero Spinelli Prize will be held in May 2018. Want to know more about the mothers of Europe? Take a look at her project here.