A transnational, European university

The idea for a transnational European university had been percolating among pro-European movements since the end of World War II, and was mentioned at the Congress of Europe in The Hague in May 1948, where intellectuals and political leaders called for the free movement of people, goods, and ideas. While the promotion of European studies and student mobility gained momentum at the 1949 European Cultural Conference in Lausanne, the early debates were already marked by a division between those advocating a single European university and those favouring stronger European cooperation within existing institutions.

Walter Hallstein gave the project clearer political shape at the Messina Conference in 1955, when he proposed the creation of a training centre for nuclear sciences, embedded in the emerging Euratom Treaty.

Negotiations waxed and waned in subsequent years, with persistent points of contention among the six member states of the European Communities. Doubts remained over whether the Rome Treaties applied to the educational sphere, whether Euratom’s reference to a university-level institution could extend beyond scientific training, and whether a new centralised institution was desirable.

From vision to institution

In the decade leading up to the signing of the Convention, Villa Tolomei in Marignolle, just below Fiesole, was identified as future seat of the Institute. However, the site was deemed unsuitable due to its need for extensive renovation and building, as well for its limited potential to eventually accommodate an academic community as large as that envisaged. Instead, the Institute would be installed at the Badia Fiesolana. By then, the project had evolved from an initiative centred on nuclear sciences to one focused on the humanities, with the aim of contributing to the development of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage and addressing the major movements and institutions that have shaped its history and development.