The Pontignano Co-Chairs
The Pontignano Co-Chairs take an active role in the planning and the delivery of the event and we are delighted that Lord David Willetts, who has been involved ever since the first Pontignano in 1993, was joined by Italy’s former Minister for Economic Development, Mr Carlo Calenda.
The Conference
For 30 years, Pontignano has been the leading UK-Italy discussion forum.
We started in 1993, just after the end of the Cold War, with the theme ‘Europe: Enlarged or Divided?’. Since then our themes have tracked the key issues of the day e.g. ‘Democracy and its discontents’, ‘Changing climates’, ‘Better together or better apart? Italian and British views of Europe’. In 2020 and 2021 respectively we examined “UK and Italy: working together for a prosperous, secure and sustainable future” and “UK and Italy: building back better” In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has reminded us once again that freedom and peace in Europe – or indeed anywhere – can never be taken for granted. We must be ready to defend them every day.
