Mattarella: 'Common sensitivity in the EU to face the future with confidence'

They are "emblematic", in the relations between European countries, of "a common culture and sensitivity" which allows us to face the future with confidence even in such complex and troubled times". This was said by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in a passage of his speech at the Olimpico theater in Vicenza, where he took part in the inaugural ceremony of the exhibition "Europe Inspiration - Italy and Germany - Painting and sculpture between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From Canova to Kiefer".

"It is no coincidence that the exhibition - he added - starts with an image of Goethe, closely linked to Italy, one of the most authoritative symbols of the great bond between Germany and Italy. It is a cultural basis of civilization that has increasingly linked our continent, with obstacles that have intervened over time to overcome this fusion with violent opposition. They have been overcome, definitively set aside, by the courage of the choice of integration". Mattarella, at the beginning of his speech, thanked the German ambassador Thomas Bagger for his presence which underlines "the friendship that exists between our countries", then also greeted all the other institutions present.

The exhibition will bring to Vicenza "the expression of the artistic bond between Germany and Italy, and with France and Spain. This explains how strong the foundations of the bond that exists in our continent and in the European Union are", reiterated the Head of State. "When enlightened statesmen, after the lacerations and horrors of the Second World War, made the choice to put together the future of the European peoples, they made a courageous and far-sighted choice, innovative in history. But this choice had a very strong basis," he noted.