Villa Vigoni

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The Villa Vigoni - German-Italian Center for European Excellence is an association founded in 1986, whose buildings and administration are owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and which resides in two historic villas in the middle of a botanical garden on Lake Como .

In addition to the eponymous Villa Vigoni, the property also includes Villa Garovaglio.

Structures

Villa Vigoni e. V. is an association jointly supported by the German and Italian governments. Its tasks include promoting German-Italian cooperation, particularly in the areas of culture, art and science. This takes place explicitly in a European dimension. The Villa Vigoni offers scientific seminars, doctoral programs, political and journalistic discussions and fellowship programs that deal with European identity, its history and future.

The General Secretary of the Villa Vigoni has been the historian, Romance scholar and Rosmini expert Christiane Liermann since October 1, 2018 . The Villa Vigoni was previously managed by the State Secretary Paul Harro Piazolo (1987–1992), the historians Rudolf Lill (1993–1996) and Bernd Roeck (1997–1999), the Germanist Aldo Venturelli (2000–2007), the classical philologist Gregor Vogt-Spira (2008 – January 2012) and the literary scholar Immacolata Amodeo (1.2.2012-2018). The Villa Vigoni has its own YouTube channel, some of which makes conferences accessible (see under web links).

prehistory

The German-Italian Don Ignazio Vigoni Medici di Marignano owned several buildings and properties in Menaggio on Lake Como, Italy. At his death in 1983 he bequeathed the property to the Federal Republic of Germany on condition that it promote international understanding between the countries. Germany met this demand by setting up the Villa Vigoni association with Italy at government level . On the German side, the contractual partner is the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), on the Italian side, the Foreign Ministry.

Litigation

The Villa Vigoni was the subject of a legal dispute that gained international significance through a complaint by Germany against Italy before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The historical roots of the case lie in German war crimes in the Greek town of Distomo (more details in the article there). The relatives of the Greek victims sued the Federal Republic of Germany for compensation payments before the Greek courts and prevailed in a first-instance default judgment in 1997; a request for revision was rejected in 2000 by Areopagus , the highest Greek court. The foreclosure (including the seizure of the Goethe Institute in Athens ) failed due to the lack of the necessary consent from the Greek government.

In 2008, the highest Italian civil court, the Roman Court of Cassation , ruled that the Greek judgments could be enforced in Italy, whereupon a forced mortgage was registered on Villa Vigoni. This affects the principle of state immunity , so that the German and Italian governments agreed to bring about a decision by the ICJ on the general scope of states' immunity to individual claims anchored in international law. In 2012 the IGH ruled in favor of the Federal Republic; the villa cannot therefore be attached.

History of the villa

The Milanese merchant, industrialist and banker Heinrich Mylius (1769-1854), who came from Frankfurt am Main , bought the villa, including a 5-hectare park, for his son Julius. He died in 1829 shortly after his marriage to the Milanese aristocrat Luigia Vitali (1809-1884). In memory of his son, Mylius had a tempietto built in the villa's garden and decorated with reliefs by Pompeo Marchesi and Bertel Thorvaldsen . Luigia later married Ignazio Vigoni Senior (1808-1860), the grandfather of the testator of the villa to the Federal Republic.

Villa Vigoni and Frankfurt am Main

The city of Frankfurt am Main is still a member of the Villa Vigoni association today (2012) and thus shows its gratitude towards the patron and solidarity with its son.

In 2019, Villa Vigoni organized an exhibition in cooperation with the Giersch Museum of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main , which was shown in Frankfurt in 2019 on the occasion of Heinrich Mylius' 250th birthday.

Web links

Wikisource: Announcement of the agreements between the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the government of the Italian Republic on the association “Villa Vigoni” (1986)  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Registered in the register of associations at the Bonn District Court under VR 5422. In addition, there is a support group of the Friends of Villa Vigoni e. V., Bonn District Court, VR 6042.
  2. ^ Christiane Liermann Traniello. In: Villa Vigoni | German-Italian Center for European Dialogue. Accessed June 16, 2020 (German).
  3. ^ Villa Vigoni ha un nuovo Segretario Generale. In: Villa Vigoni | Centro italo-tedesco per il dialogo europeo. Retrieved June 16, 2020 (it-IT).
  4. ^ Prestigious Calling ( Memento from January 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Jacobs University, February 7, 2012)
  5. ↑ Career | General and Comparative Literature. Retrieved June 16, 2020 .
  6. ↑ beck-aktuell: "IGH: Federal Republic achieves success in dispute with Italy over compensation for Nazi crimes"
  7. ^ Hans-Jürgen Schlamp: Judgment on war crimes Legal peace takes precedence over human rights - Spiegel Online, February 3, 2012
  8. ↑ Frankfurt's Italian branch in: FAZ of June 21, 2012, page 39.
  9. ^ Exhibition on the "founding father" of Villa Vigoni in Frankfurt. Villa Vigoni, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Judith v. Sternburg: Heinrich Mylius in the Giersch Museum. Do the right thing. In: FR. August 9, 2019, accessed June 16, 2020 .