From Wednesday 26 June, available to all, the documentary production in 8 episodes, conceived, curated and created by the University of Udine for the scientific direction of the historian Tommaso Piffer together with the students of the University and Friuli Storia. From the trenches of Monte San Michele to the Risiera di San Sabba, from the bunkers of Ugovizza to Piazza Transalpina, from the shrine of Redupuglia to the concentration camp of Gonars, passing through the Museums of the Passport, of the Shipbuilding of Monfalcone, of the Watchmaking in Val Pesarina. Friuli Venezia Giulia as a surprising time machine, to browse the history of the “short century” imprinted on the territory of the extreme north-east of Italy.
And it will culminate in 2025 with an edition dedicated to “Divided and disputed cities”, and with the release of a collection of essays, the three-year Forum on the Cold War promoted by the University of Udine with Harvard University, edited by Friuli History. From Berlin to Gorizia, to Jerusalem: cities in the world on which the conflicting interests of world powers have concentrated, and often still confront each other.
The study of the Cold War as a useful tool for deciphering our time: the three days of studies and research that marked the second edition of the International Forum on the Cold War created in collaboration between the University of Udine, Harvard University – Cold War Studies and the Friuli History Association, dedicated this year to “Commemorating the Cold War in Europe – On the trail of the Cold War in Europe”.
And the Think Tank of over 60 of the most important scholars in the world who participated in these first two editions is already working on the 2025 edition which, in the year of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025, will focus on “Disputed and Divided Cities of the Cold War.” And to make the work of the Forum available to everyone, some editorial initiatives will be proposed: a book with specific essays dedicated to the Forum and further scientific publications. Scientific Director Tommaso Piffer explains: «different types of publications, for which we are already working, will reflect the work carried out through the international network that studies the history of borders, and of borderlands in the Cold War, and sees the leader University of Udine. In parallel, the research project will focus on the traces that the history of the twentieth century has left on the territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia, through the “Travelers in Time” project which looks at the region as a perfect compendium of the twentieth century”.
“Time travellers. The Friuli Venezia Giulia compendium of the twentieth century” is the project carried out by the University of Udine and Friuli History with the contribution of the autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, with the collaboration of Promoturismo FVG: an initiative that transforms the regional territory into an extraordinary machine of time, to browse the European history of the “short century”, simply by moving to the territory of the extreme north-east of Italy. This will be demonstrated by the documentary production in 8 episodes which from Wednesday 26 June will be available to everyone on Telefriuli, with the broadcast in groups of two episodes of 12 minutes each. Appointment therefore on the evenings of Wednesday 26 June and then Wednesday 3, 10 and 17 July at 10pm, with a repeat at 1pm on the following Thursday and Friday. The episodes broadcast on Telefriuli will also be downloadable from uniud.it/viaggiatori starting from 26 June.
Unique in Italy and Europe, Friuli Venezia Giulia witnessed all the great conflicts of the twentieth century: the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War. Here all the great fractures that marked the last century overlapped: the national fracture between peoples competing for the same territory, the fracture between fascism and anti-fascism, and the fracture between communism and anti-communism. Here, more than in other areas of Italy, the great change that after the Second World War transformed a predominantly agricultural country into a great industrial power is evident. The documentary production “Travellers in Time” will have two special guides, the students of the University of Udine Emma Dal Mas and Mirko De Pauli, who will guide the public first to rediscover the sites linked to the Great War, from Monte Kolovrat to Redipuglia (GO) , from Monte San Michele to Ragogna, then in the places connected to the Second World War, from Gonars to San Sabba, then in the emblematic sites of the Cold War, from Ugovizza to Sablici, from Nova Gorica to Coccau, finally in the locations characterizing the industrial history of the region, from Pesariis to Montereale Valcellina, to Monfalcone. Numerous guests will bring their reflections, such as historians Fabio Todero, Andrea Zannini, Anna Krekic, Matteo Ermacora, Elisa De Zan, Mario Robiony.
The University of Ljubljana, the Museum of the Great War of Ragogna, the Osoppo Partisans Association, the Friulian Institute for the History of the Liberation Movement in Friuli, the Landscapes Association, the Movement Friuli Venezia Giulia Wine Tourism and the Friulian Alpine Society.
