Fondazione Internazionale Premio Balzan
The Fondazione Internazionale Premio Balzan is a foundation in Milan that has existed since 1956 with the aim of promoting culture and science as well as initiatives for “peace and brotherhood among peoples” worldwide. To this end, it offers four highly endowed prizes ( Balzan Prize ) every year .
Alignment
The board of trustees defines the cultural areas of responsibility of the foundation. He also appoints the members of the awards committee based on suggestions made by the committee itself. One of which is appointed by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs in consultation with the Minister of Education The Board of Trustees consists of seven personalities of the cultural and scientific field together, another member is from the Department of Home Affairs of Switzerland ordered a third by the General Prize Committee. Ambassador Bruno Bottai , who is also President of the Dante Society , was President of the Board of Trustees at the beginning of 2011 . Vice-president was Carlo Fontana, the former director of La Scala in Milan and professor at the Philosophical Faculty of the Università degli Studi .
The award committee is made up of twenty renowned scholars, including President Salvatore Veca , Professor of Political Philosophy and Vice Director of the Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori di Pavia and Nicolette Mout as one of the two Vice Presidents. She is Professor Emeritus of Modern History and Central European Studies at the University of Leiden . In addition, Werner Stauffacher, also emeritus professor of internal medicine at the University of Basel and former President of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, Basel, is of the same rank .
There are also professors from Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, Austria and France.
history
Eugenio Francesco Balzan was born on April 20, 1874 in Badia Polesine in the northern Italian province of Rovigo . In 1882 his family lost their entire land in a devastating flood caused by the water masses of the Adige . She moved to Padua . At first Balzan worked in the land registry office in Vicenza . In 1897 he began his professional career with the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera , mediated by Adolfo Rossi, who came from the same area . There he was responsible for proofreading the text, then editor , editorial writer and special correspondent . In 1903 the publisher Luigi Albertini entrusted him with the management of the publishing house. Balzan became a co-owner with a small stake in the share capital. In 1933 he left Italy, as he saw the independence of the newspaper endangered by the fascists and himself threatened by them.
He moved to Zurich , then to Lugano in Italian-speaking Switzerland , and supported institutions and private individuals. He did not officially return to Italy until 1950, but died on July 15, 1953 in Lugano.
The foundation was established in 1956 in Lugano at the request of Angela Lina Balzan. On the death of her father Eugenio, she had inherited a considerable fortune and dedicated it to a cause that promised to keep his memory cherished. To this end, three prizes should be awarded every year, on the one hand for peace, on the other hand for physics, chemistry, technology and medicine, and then for literature, philosophy and the arts. The prizes have been awarded annually since 1961.
In 1961, in addition to the International Balzan Prize Foundation, another foundation was set up in Switzerland, the E.Balzan Prize International Foundation, based in Zurich . It is headed by a board of trustees consisting of seven members. Two of them are representatives of the Italian and the Swiss government. The foundation was chaired from 2006 to 2016 by Achille Casanova , former Vice Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation and Federal Council spokesman and ombudsman of the public German-speaking Swiss radio and television. The foundation is considered a non-profit organization under Swiss law and is subject to foundation supervision by the Department of Home Affairs. Its task is to provide the Fondazione Internazionale Premio Balzan with the necessary funds. Four Swiss banks manage their assets.
The profits flow in full into the prices of the main foundation, since the assets are expressly not to be reinvested . Since investments were made carefully, 4 million Swiss francs were made available every year even during the economic crisis ; in 2011, 3 million Swiss francs were made available. intended. While from 1979 to 1987 three prizes of CHF 250,000 each were awarded annually, from 1988 to 1990 it was 300,000, 1991–95 350,000, 1996–98 already 500,000. From 1999 four prizes were awarded each year, each endowed with 500,000 euros, and from 2001 even with one million each. Of this, however, 500,000 euros had to be reinvested in the winner's research projects.
plant
- Eugenio Balzan: L'emigrazione in Canada nell'inchiesta del "Corriere" (1901) , Milan: Fondazione Corriere della Sera 2009.
literature
- Renata Broggini: Eugenio Balzan 1874-1953. Una vita per il "Corriere" un progetto per l'umanità , Milan: Rizzoli 2001.
- Angela Lina Balzan, Eugenio Balzan , eds. La Fondazione, 1986.
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Claudio Carabba: Corrierino, Corrierona: la Politica Illustrata del Corriere della Sera , Rimini, Florence: Guaraldi 1976, 2nd edition 1998, p.72..
- ↑ Entry of the "International Foundation Prize E. Balzan Fund" in the commercial register of the Canton of Zurich ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
