Historical research institution · Founded 1934 · Rome

Central Council for Historical Studies

The Central Council for Historical Studies (Giunta Centrale per gli Studi Storici) is an Italian state body based in Rome, founded in 1934 under the Ministry of Education to coordinate and promote historical research across Italy. It oversees a network of specialised historical institutes, supports scholarly publications, and organises the principal congresses of historical sciences held in Italy.

At a glance

Type: National historical research coordinating body
Founded: 1934
Style: Institutional; operates within the Italian Ministry of Education and Research
Location: Rome, Lazio, Italy
Coordinates: 41.8940° N, 12.4784° E

Overview

The Giunta Centrale per gli Studi Storici acts as the coordinating apex of Italy’s publicly funded historical research infrastructure. It connects more than thirty affiliated institutes covering every major field of Italian and world history — from medieval studies to the history of the Risorgimento, from Byzantine studies to the history of science. The Council also liaises with international bodies, including the Comité International des Sciences Historiques (CISH), representing Italian historical scholarship on the global stage.

History

The institution was established by royal decree in 1934 during the Fascist period as part of a broader centralisation of Italian cultural and academic life, though its mandate to coordinate historical scholarship gave it an enduring scientific mission that outlasted the political circumstances of its founding. After the Second World War, the Council was reformed and integrated into the democratic Republic’s institutional framework, continuing its role of supporting peer-reviewed historical research and connecting Italy’s scattered network of specialist institutes. Its longevity reflects the Italian state’s sustained investment in humanistic scholarship as a public good.

What you see

The Council’s offices are housed in institutional premises in Rome’s academic district, near the concentration of ministries, universities, and research bodies that characterise the city’s scholarly infrastructure. The premises are working administrative offices rather than a public museum, though the Council periodically organises open lectures and congresses at venues across the capital. Its library and archive holdings support researchers engaged in Italian historical studies.

Cultural significance

The Giunta Centrale has shaped the institutional landscape of Italian historiography for nearly a century, providing continuity of funding and coordination across periods of political change. Its affiliated institutes collectively represent one of Europe’s largest state-supported networks of historical research infrastructure, sustaining disciplines — palaeography, numismatics, diplomatic history, regional history — that might otherwise lack institutional homes.

Practical information

Address: Rome, Lazio (check official website for current premises)
Access: Administrative office; not a public visitor site. Congresses and lectures open to the public are announced via the official website
Website: Check official Italian Ministry of Education and Research channels

Getting there

Rome is served by two international airports: Fiumicino (Leonardo da Vinci) and Ciampino. Within the city, the metro, trams, and an extensive bus network connect all central districts. The Council’s Roman offices are accessible via public transport; consult the official website for the current address and nearest transport links.

Sources & resources

Find it on the map

Google Maps See the location on a full map → Street View Walk around the place virtually → OpenStreetMap Free community cartography →

The dynamics of centralization and control that mark the cultural policy of the fascist regime undoubtedly influence the birth of the Junta. With regard to the historical studies sector in particular, the dialectic between Gentile&#39;s and De Vecchi&#39;s approach of Val Cismon was found and in this context it can be said that the position of the second prevailed, with the three positions held at the same time in the mid-30s he managed to shape the life of historical institutes according to his vision: while he is president of the Council as well as the Institute of the Risorgimento and minister of national Education he promotes two decrees that change the character of mediation that connoted the rd July 20, 1934 n.1226 with which the Central Council for historical studies was established.



The two decrees (107 and 109 of 25 February 1935 increase the power of control of the Junta to the detriment of the historical Institutes and of the Deputations, overcoming the mere task of coordinating the founding measure: the first are classified as organs of the Junta and then &quot;all&quot; Institutions operating in historical research and studies become dependent on it, and the Italian government is then assigned to the Junta in the International Committee of Historical Sciences, thus overcoming the specific Committee established with the RD 3218 of 15 November 1928. In addition to President De Vecchi, they also part of the first Giunta Gioacchino Volpe, Annibale Alberti, Francesco Salata, Emilio Re.



The sector regimentation work passes through two provisions: the Regulations for Deputations (which were standardized as peripheral organs of the Council losing any specific autonomy and characterization) and the reorganization foreseen by the RDL 770 of April 29, 1937. With it he was appointed Vice President Francesco Ercole and the composition of the Board expanded to include Giuseppe Cardinali, Pericle Ducati, Pietro Fedele, Carlo Galassi Paluzzi, Alberto M. Ghisalberti, Roberto Paribeni and Raffaello Morghen, since 1942 with the functions of general secretary.


The activity of the period preceding the Second World War develops essentially in the realization of the project of the National Historical Bibliography, the first volume of which refers to 1939, and in relations with the International Committee of Historical Sciences, both as regards participation in conferences that at the International Bibliography of Historical Sciences. During the 1938 Zurich Congress, Volpe was included in the Bureau of the International Committee, also managing to have the 1943 Congress scheduled in Rome. It should also be remembered that between 1935 and 1942 the Giunta edited, with the direction of Volpe, also the publication of the Italian historical magazine.

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