Francesca Zilio

After graduating in International and Diplomatic Studies from the University of Trieste, in 2012 she earned a binational PhD in History of International Relations from Sapienza University of Rome (Department of Political Studies) and the Free University of Berlin (Friedrich Meinecke Institute). Before arriving at Villa Vigoni, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Free University of Berlin, an assistant professor in Contemporary History at the University of Bern, a visiting researcher at the Europainstitut of the University of Basel, and a contract researcher at the Institute for Political Studies S. Pio V in Rome.
She is a research associate with the Swiss Diplomatic Documents research group (Dodis) and founder of the Nation Brand Italia project on Italy's international reputation ( www.nationbranditalia.it ). She carries out historical and public history dissemination activities , particularly on the history of German division and reunification and its effects on current events, through written publications, the creation and production of content for the Instagram profile and Facebook page "The Berlin Wall in Pills," and the development of historically themed itineraries in Germany for cultural tourism organizations, accompanied by a teacher.
Francesca Zilio's research topics are mainly the history of Germany and Berlin during the Cold War, the foreign policy of Italy and West Germany in the post-World War II period, Italian-German political and cultural relations, the role of Christian Democratic parties in the process of European integration, and the institutional promotion of the national image of states (from cultural diplomacy to Nation Branding ).