Festival D’Europa - Speech of the Chairman of the Fondazione Galileo 2000 - Alfonso De Virgiliis, Lawyer

“I am very pleased to participate in the greatest initiative of the Festival d’Europa with the Premio Galileo. This prize, at its 14^th edition, celebrates the fundamental values of Europe, which are also the values of the Festival itself. Peace, culture and freedom: the elements which tend to bring peoples together and contribute to create a united Europe where our future can be placed”(A. De Virgiliis, lawyer).

Therefore, the Premio Galileo represents the path to be followed, rich in ideas of cohesion for a unique and large Europe founded on mutual ideals. These are the categories that will be awarded on 9^th May – the Europe day – on the historical stage of the Teatro della Pergola in Florence where, on the occasion, a unique and charming scene design will be arranged with a narrative and evocative path of epochs and humanities.

Premio “Una Vita per la Musica” Giglio d’Oro                Haris Alexiou

Premio“Una Vita per la Musica” Pentagramma d’Oro     Le Orchestre giovanili della Scuola di Musica di Fiesole

Premio per la Cultura                                                   Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Premio per la Pace                                                       Ivo Josipovic´

Premio per i Diritti Umani                                             Livia Firth, Mariam Irizbaeva

Premio per l’economia                                                 Jaen-Claude Juncker

Premio per la politica scientifica e tecnologica             Josè Manuel Barroso

The evening will end at the prestigious European University Institute for a convivial meeting. Laura and Silvia Squizzato (Mezzogiorno in Famiglia, Rai2) will host the event.

Originally created as a purely musical prize, over the years the Premio Galileo has increasingly embraced themes such as Peace, meant as sovereign good strictly linked to culture and art, to freedom of thought and of spirit, aiming at the vocation of Florence, City for Peace. Among the winners of the Premio Galileo: His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Shimon Peres, Lech Walesa, Jack Lang, Bernard – Henri Lévy, Zubin Mehta, Roberto Benigni, Riccardo Muti, Emma Bonino, Joaquin Cortès and many others

www.premiogalileo2000.it