Spaniards in Rome, between culture, politics, religion, and international relations

CYCLE: An international capital: Rome and foreigners
SPEAKER: Fernando Garcia Sanz, Director of the Spanish School of History and Archeology in Rome
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 6 pm

The relationship between Spain and Spaniards with Rome has often been perceived more as the pursuit of an "idea" rather than a physical space. Perhaps this is why it can be said that each of us carries within us a Rome, a tradition, an individual version of the idea of Rome that has been rooted for so many centuries in its universal sense of humanity. An idea that has been permeable to the changes of our contemporary times, but in which culture has represented the historical link between the Spaniards and the city of Rome. Reality is increasingly complex, and the history of cultural relations with Rome as the stage could not help but be influenced by the vicissitudes of politics, religious sentiment, and the complicated post-1870 international landscape. In the background, however, the creation of the Academia Española de Bellas Artes and the Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología highlights this multiplicity of factors, as well as the genuine quest to capture the deep spirit of the fine arts that only Rome could contain as an international campus of humanistic studies.

Fernando García Sanz is a Research Scientist at the Institute of History of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid. From 2011 to 2018, he was CSIC's Institutional Delegate in Italy and director of the Spanish School of History and Archeology in Rome. His research interests include the history of international relations, the history of Spanish foreign policy, the history of Italy, and the history of Italian-Spanish relations during the contemporary age. In 2003, he was decorated by the President of the Republic with the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, with the rank of Officer.

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