Italy and the Council of Europe – bringing human rights from the conference table to your kitchen table

The Council of Europe works for you. We want to give visibility to the role, standards and work of the Council of Europe in its member states, to show how Council of Europe membership has helped achieve particular results or changes. Our aim, through a variety of events and actions, is to highlight ways in which the Council of Europe’s action has helped improve the life of individuals and contributed to improving people’s enjoyment of fundamental rights.

Michele Giacomelli, Ambasciatore, Rappresentante Permanente d’Italia presso il Consiglio d’Europa

Whether it is the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights at national level, or the Council of Europe's work in many fields, such as working to abolish the death penalty or to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of the media, or to adress online and technology-facilitated violence against women through the Istanbul Convention and Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the Council of Europe has achieved a lot since 1949. View achievements »

Events

11 October 2025

• Celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Venice Commission: the Council of Europe’s body of constitutional experts, the exhibition “Democracy through law: from the Serenissima Republic to the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe”, was opened at the Doge’s Palace in Venice, Italy. The exhibition “La Democrazia attraverso il Diritto. Dalla Serenissima Repubblica alla Commissione di Venezia del Consiglio d’Europa” was organised in collaboration between the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe Programme Office in Venice, the Soprintendenza Archivistica e Bibliografica del Veneto e Trentino - Alto Adige, l’Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE) and il Consiglio Regionale del Veneto, and can be seen until the 6 January 2026.

11 December 2023

• In Venice, Italy, Council of Europe Days presented at Club of Venice’s communication professionals. Council of Europe Days have been high on the agenda at Palazzo Franchetti during Club of Venice’s plenary session (30 November – 1 December), as a best practice for institutional communication. The initiative has been highlighted during the round table on “The Future of public communication”: framing challenges and turbulences, building resilience, supporting policies, and delivering trustworthy narratives. More than eighty communication specialists and experts from several European countries have learned about the project.

24 May 2023

• Seminar with regional journalists from Veneto

May 2023

• Events celebrating the Council of Europe organised by the CoE Office in collaboration with the European Parliament Information Office in Milan, the European Commission Representation in Rome, the Municipality of Venice, the Municipality Europe Direct Information Centre and various local partners
• Series of debates in the format “Caffè dell’Europa”, in collaboration with historic coffee houses of St. Mark’s square, aims at involving citizens in discussions about European topics such as the future of Europe, equality between women and men or the rights and responsibilities inherent in democratic citizenship
• “Concert for Europe”. This event will be organized in collaboration with the Music Conservatory Benedetto Marcello
• Conferences, training courses for journalists, and book presentations

April 2023

• Meeting of the Italian Faro Network

8 March 2023 

• Event to celebrate the Council of Europe’s commitment to equality between women and men rights. 

23 February 2023

• Book presentation, “The erased Italians' history” by Dino Messina (Venice)

8 February 2023

• Public film screening, “The Zookeeper's Wife” (2017), a Czech-British-American war drama film directed by Niki Caro, written by Angela Workman and based on Diane Ackerman's non-fiction book (Venice)

26 January - 2 February 2023

• Exhibition “Righteous Among the Nations”, with the Yad Vashem Institute, Jerusalem (Venice)

18 January 2023

• Book presentation, “History of Carla” by Carla Viterbo Bassani and Roberto Lughezzani. (Venice)

17 January 2023

• Laying ceremony of “stumbling stones” to commemorate victims of the Holocaust (Venice)