WorldWideBassani project proposes to study and analyze, for the first time, the extraordinary material represented by the letters exchanged by Giorgio Bassani with foreign intellectuals, between 1948 e 1979, preserved in the Giorgio Bassani Heirs Archive in Paris. Thanks to my previous studies on Bassani's works the heirs have authorized me to study and publish the correspondence. The works of Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) are now considered one of the highest literary reflections on the theme of Jewish persecution and the Shoah, and are read and studied increasingly all over the world. Writing after the end of Second World War, in one of the most difficult periods in the history of humanity, the author initiates, with exceptional anticipation of the times, a profound reflection focused not only on the need to bear witness to the atrocities of persecution, but also on the duty to refound a society based on peaceful coexistence. Among Bassani's correspondents we find names of important intellectuals of the twentieth century, such as Cecil Roth (English historian of Jewish origin), Hans Nilsson-Ehle (Swedish linguist), Juan Rodolfo Wilcock (Argentine scholar), Francis Ponge (French poet), Warren Penn Robert (American writer), Rolf Rheiner (German politician and former SS). In this dialogue, crucial issues are addressed: the elaboration of the traumatic past of the Shoah, but also the crisis and disaster of the old world and the rebirth of a “Europe of the peoples”. These documents, unpublished and unknown to scholars, will offer a new perspective on the evolution of the author's thought and on the international, collettive debate on the re-elaboration of the tragedy of persecution, as well as on the construction of a European cultural identity. Thanks to the dissemination and exploitation tools provided by the project (see 2.2), this work will offer a new interpretative model to the entire international community of scholars, decision-makers and the broader public.

Since the Middle Ages, the name of Genghis Khan has been associated in the West with the idea of the Apocalypse. In accordance with this negative representation, the women who contributed to the rise of his empire have long been described as sinister witches and warriors, indistinguishable from the men of their horde. However, studies carried out starting in the last century, thanks to the opening of Mongolia to the West and the rediscovery of new local sources, have led Western scholars to a profound revaluation of Genghis Khan, now seen as one of the makers of the modern world. This revaluation has also affected our view of Mongol princesses, who enjoyed a freedom and a consideration unknown to their sedentary neighbors. Wise and resilient, they took part like men in war, politics and trade, and could choose whether and with whom to marry. Western Images of the Steppe Empresses (WISE) is the first research in the field of comparative literature aiming to understand whether the new anthropological, archaeological, historical and philological studies carried out by the Mongolists have triggered a change in the perception of Genghisid female royalty in 20th and 21st century Western culture. It analyses their representation in American and Anglophone, Francophone and Italophone European literature and cinema. WISE seeks to understand the cultural reasons for the metamorphosis of the image in question, and whether it is connected to the changed role of women in the West as a result of feminist claims. Moreover, it explores the possibility of an Oriental influence, linked to the steppe culture, on the model of emancipated and combative women prevalent in the West today. The training at Sorbonne Nouvelle University and the École Pratique des Hautes Études will give me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of Mongolian civilization, and to acquire expertise in Orientalism, gender and film studies, to be added to my existing skills in comparative literature.

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has ended the post-Cold War European security order, creating new realities in countries neighbouring the EU and shattering illusions in several member states about the Kremlin’s true intentions in wider Europe. By granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and a European perspective to Georgia, the EU has rejected a Russian sphere of influence and instead determined where its future borders should lie. But this decision has not yet led to policies tailored to effectively respond to a geopolitical context which also sees China and other state actors competing for influence. The Eastern Partnership still needs to be fitted with security and connectivity components. In the accession process, existing formats had already reached their limits with, inter alia, the obstructionism by certain member states that is linked to the divisive issue of EU internal reform. This has cost the EU a lot of credibility in the Western Balkans and will take years to resolve. REUNIR, a project with 12 partners from across Europe, examines how the EU can strengthen its foreign and security toolboxes to bolster the resilience and transformation of (potential) candidate countries in a new age of international relations. REUNIR’s foresight approach takes the fundamental uncertainty and openness of alternative futures seriously. Adding the effects of ‘protean power’ unleashed in unforeseen circumstances to a multi-disciplinary approach to the research of the EU’s ‘control power’ in relations with strategic rivals, REUNIR empirically assesses foreign threats to the military, socio-economic and democratic resilience of 9 neighbouring countries, determines capability shortfalls, maps local perceptions of the EU’s support and political perspectives inside the EU on neighbourhood relations. Outlining scenarios up to 2035, REUNIR offers evidence-based policy recommendations to mitigate malign foreign interference and strengthen the EU’s external action.