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Luigi Sturzo Institute

The Luigi Sturzo Institute has been a non-profit body since 1951. It holds one of the most important archives in Italy of Catholic policy and culture in the 20th century. The Institute provides services in the library and archival sciences sector and is a research and teaching centre in the field of human sciences, with particular regard to history, sociology, politology, law and business together with a lively publishing action.
The Institute’s activity covers four main areas:

1. The Historical Archive holds over 4550 envelopes of documents, which have been recognised by the State to be of considerable historical interest. It specialises in retrieval and awareness-raising initiatives, via researchers, studies and publications, concerning sources for the history of the Catholic movement. The Archive holds writings and documents that are indispensable to better appreciate the history of Italy and Catholic movements from the crisis of the Liberal State up to coming of Fascism, as well as the lives of anti-fascist exiles up to establishment of the Republic and promulgation of the Constitutional Charter. In particular, writings and papers from Luigi Sturzo, I. Coccia, F.L. Ferrari, G. Gronchi, F. Meda, G.B. Migliori, S. Paronetto, f.Piccoli, G.Rodinò, M.Scelba, D. Secco Suardo, G. Spataro, V. Veronese and the Christian Democratic Party are available. The Historical archive mainly holds documentary material, which is supplemented by iconographic, photographic and audio-visual materials.
2. The Library specialises in social sciences, modern and contemporary history with particular regard to local history, history of political parties and history of political and social thought. It is continuously updated with the most recent Italian and foreign publications and holds about 80,000 volumes. The Journals section includes about 600 journals mainly focused on sociological matters, although historical and political journals are also present. The Library of the Luigi Sturzo institute has been a member of the National Librarian Service since 1990.
3. The Study and Research department develops scientific programmes within the framework of initiatives in historical, sociological, political science, legal and economic sectors. The Institute’s archival and documentary materials are the core underlying most of the researches carried out by the Department. The final objective consists in setting up a laboratory of excellence aimed at enhancing the value of cultural heritage by sharing the common features of national and European history. In this context, the Institute seeks the convergence of culture, research and new technologies, the dissemination of knowledge with regard to Catholics’ history, political and cultural identity, and the development of an innovative training system that focused on humanistic research.
4. The Training department is especially involved in developing projects aimed at adjusting the relevant actors’ professional skills to the changes resulting from the introduction of information and communication technologies into cultural institutions. In this regard, the Luigi Sturzo Institute has been promoting, for several years, training projects that are meant basically to fully take advantage of specialised and managerial skills by seeking their interaction with technical and computer science-related skills. This activity has allowed updating and upgrading the skills both of staff working in museums, libraries and archives and of unemployed graduates.

Contact:  Patrizia Severi
Web site: http://www.sturzo.it/
Phone:  +39 06 68404225
Fax:  +39 06 68404244