The Foundation

Fondazione di Storia - onlus

The Research Institute for Social and Religious History in Vicenza, founded by Gabriele De Rosa and Mariano Rumor in 1975, turns into Fondazione di Storia – onlus (Foundation for Historical Research - NPO) on 11th March 2017, after 40 years of history and social research studies, irradiating from the Veneto region to the rest of Italy, then to Europe and Asia.

Presidents: Mariano Rumor (1975-1990), Feliciano Benvenuti (1991-1999), Gabriele De Rosa (1999-2006), Tiziano Treu (2006-2016), Paolo Scaroni (2016-present).
Members and supporters: please refer to the Organization chart and to the Members and Supporters page.
Headquarters: since 2014 the Foundation has been hosted at Palazzo Giustiniani in Vicenza, courtesy of the Cariverona Foundation. From 1975 to 2014 the offices were located at the ancient monastic complex of San Rocco in Vicenza.

Activities

The Foundation’s mission is to contribute to deepening historical studies – with the additional aim of improving the understanding of present times - on the basis of research projects developed by local, national and international study teams and researchers.

The Foundation organizes conferences, workshops and seminars. The proceedings of the conferences and the results of research studies are collected in publications of value. The Foundation also convenes meetings for dissemination purposes, targeted at young people and the public at large. The Foundation Library owns about 14,000 volumes and valuable Historical Collections.

Research Areas

The "Research Institute for Social and Religious History"" was set up in Vicenza in 1975, to further pursue the activities of the "Study Center for the History Sources of the Veneto Church", founded at the State Archive of Padua in 1966 with the aim of reconstructing the religious life of the local church through the records of the pastoral visits of the Veneto bishops.

In the following years, the Institute studied the religious, social, cultural, political, and economic events that marked the history and evolution of societies in the Veneto region, in Italy and in Europe. The focus, initially on Veneto, spread first to other Italian areas (particularly the South),then to other nations (especially France and Germany).

In 1989 the Institute engaged in a new field of study, that is the history of the European areas excluded from research for a long time: Balkan, Central and Eastern Europe. The purpose of such an initiative was – and still is - to contribute to laying the foundations for a united history of Europe. In recent years, research has further expanded to Central Asia and has produced studies and publications on Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

These new currents have proceeded side by side with the traditional interests in Italian history, especially the Veneto region, as shown by the important projects under way. Particular stress has always been laid on the study of archival sources and the protection of documentary material, with special reference to a private archive preserved at our headquarters, the Savardo Archive.

The Foundation, established in 2017 in continuity with the Institute, will further develop the research areas launched in all these years.

The Statutes

Article 1 - Name
A "Foundation for Participation in Research of Social and Religious History" [...] has been established, in continuity with the Institute for Social and Religious History founded in Vicenza in 1975 by Gabriele De Rosa and Mariano Rumor.

Article 2 - Purpose
The Foundation operates on a non-profit basis, pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree no. 460 of 4th December 1997, through activities carried out at national and international level.

Official acknowledgments

The Foundation was recognized as a legal entity with Presidential Decree of 6.8.1989, then as a non-profit organization with Ministerial decree of 4.2.1999. The Foundation is included in the List of Bodies of recognized scientific relevance, established by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.