journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...

138Book reviews – Comptes rendus – BuchbesprechungenCinzia Rognoni Vercelli, in her essay “Luciano Bolis, eroe della resistenza e patriotaeuropeo”, gives us an engaging picture of one of the leading figures of the EuropeanFederalist movement; Milanese by birth but Genoese by adoption, Bolis, who shared manyideas with Altiero Spinelli, was a very charismatic figure, thanks to his brilliant exploits inthe Genoese resistance movement.Guido Levi’s essay “Il movimento federalista europeo a Genova e in Liguria(1945-1954)” provides us with a fascinating account of the evolution which the FederalistMovement underwent in the first ten years of its activity, the choice it had to make regardingadhesion or non-adhesion to the Marshall Plan - which would involve the launching of thereconstruction of Europe - which faced the countries of Europe, and consequently thedivisions which would be created inside the movement itself. He dwells in particular on thedivisions in Genoa, and more generally on those in Liguria, where the majority of theFederalists had been members of the resistance movement.Danila Preda is the author of a long and well-informed article entitled “L’Europa di PaoloEmilio Taviani. Dalla resistenza ai trattati di Roma (1944-1957)”. In this work she presents uswith the story of another famous Genoese who, in the 1950s, was a protagonist in the activities ofgovernmental Europeanism when this was experiencing a period of particular fervour under theguidance of the president of the council, Alcide De Gasperi. Taviani, first as president of theItalian delegation at the conference of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), then atthe conference of European Defence Community (EDC), and later as under-secretary for Foreignaffairs for De Gasperi’s seventh government, carried out an important part in setting up the twocommunity organisations. It was Taviani who organised the Italo-French summit meeting atSanta Margherita Ligure of February 1951 which led to an agreement between those twocountries regarding the EDC and its political implications. And it was at Genoa, in June 1952,where alongside Taviani, Paul-Henri Spaak, the president of the European movement, appearedand that on the eve of his journey to Rome, where he would seal his agreement with De Gasperi,anticipating their discussions regarding the issues raised by article 38 of the EDC.The local Genoan press, even though little has been written about it - as Daniela Predanotes in her aforementioned introduction - did contribute in some way to divulgeinformation about Europeanism. Giovanni B. Varnier’s essay gives us a richly detailedpicture of the Europeanist efforts of the editor-in-chief of the “Corriere del Pomeriggio”,Lazzaro Maria de Bernardis, in the years 1948-1961.Giorgio Grimaldi, in his interesting essay entitled “Europeismo ed economia: Manzitti,Minoletti e la camera di Commercio di Genova (1945-1958)” notes how the GenoeseChamber of commerce, through its president and various enlightened collaborators,assumed an important role in the 1950s as an instigator in favour of European unity aroundwhich the local Europeanism revolved.In her essay “Giancarlo Piombino, sindaco di Genova e presidente dell’AICCE”, LaraPiccardo describes the man who was mayor of Genoa from 1971 to 1975 and president ofthe Italian Association for the Council of the Municipalities of Europe (AICCE) from 1969to 1981 and since 1972 also president of the European Conference of Local Powers, one ofthe first forms of institutionalised representation and participation of the local and territorialbodies in the process of continental integration created by the Council of Europe.The last section of the book gathers together the testimonies of some sixteen people whowere either Genoese or who were connected in some way to the economic, political orcultural world of Genoa or Liguria at the end of the 1940s or in the early 1950s, who carriedout roles of varying importance in the European Federalist movement and who, in their ownway, contributed to the history of the European Union.Anna BedeschiUniversità di Padova