Who We Are

Fondazione Di Vittorio

The new Fondazione Di Vittorio (FDV) is the result of the gradual unification of a number of previous CGIL related institutes (ABT, IRES, ISF, SMILE) and is now going to become the Confederation’s only national institute both for historical, social, and economic research, and for trade union education and training.

The aim is to put people and their rights back on the centre stage, along with their living and working conditions, their interests and the demands they express, linking all this to the values and ideals that make the CGIL one of the most important social and political entities in Italy.

The FDV reaffirms and strengthens the centrality of its activities around the core issues of work and employment, economics and welfare. Based on studies, research and targeted surveys, it aims to develop proposals on the great issues affecting the country, organising public conferences and seminars to debate and rethink public policies, in collaboration with the other bodies in the Confederation at all sectoral and territorial levels.

The institute has three areas of operation:

History and Memory - director Adolfo PepeAdolfo Pepe, professor of contemporary history and former Dean of the Faculty of Political Science of the Teramo University. Foundation Giuseppe Di Vittorio Director until 2014. Author of History of the CGIL published by Ediesse in 4 volumes between 1997 and 2008.

Economic and Social Research - director Raffaele MinelliA graduate in pure chemistry, from 1960-1970 Raffaele Minelli was head of the Research Section of the Rome Labour Centre. In the late 1970s, he was a member the secretariat of CGIL Rome and in 1981 became its secretary general. In 1988 he was elected assistant secretary of the CGIL Pensioners' Union, being appointed secretary general in 1994. In February 15, 2012, he was appointed President of IRES. Today he is the director of the Research Section of the Fondazione Di Vittorio.

Training - director Simona MarchiA graduate in Statistics and former National Director of SMILE (Innovative Systems and Methodologies for Work and Education), Simona Marchi at present directs the Education Department of the Fondazione Di Vittorio.

There are also working groups specialising in the following fields, coordinated by the President:

Economics and Legality, Education, Society, Culture and Innovation, Communication, European and International Policies.

Administrative Bodies

Chairman: Fulvio FammoniFulvio Fammoni started his trade union career in the 1980s, in CGIL Emilia Romagna, joining the Public Administration Section after two years, and becoming director in 1988. In 1992 he became a member of secretariat of CGIL Emilia Romagna, responsible for welfare state policies. In 1996, at the 13th Congress, Fammoni was elected secretary of the Communication Workers Union. He became confederal secretary of the CGIL in 2004 and, in May 2012 he was appointed President of the "Giuseppe Di Vittorio" Foundation.

Secretary: Carlo GhezziIn 1975 Carlo Ghezzi became a member of the executive committee of the CGIL chemical workers’ union, later becoming head of the Milan and Lombardy branch. In 1981, he was elected to the secretariat of the Milan Chamber of Labour, becoming secretary general in 1984. From 1995 to 2003. he was a member of the confederal secretariat of the CGIL, where he was in charge of the department of organization. He became president of the Fondazione Giuseppe Di Vittorio in 2004 and secretary in 2012.

The Board of Directors:

  • Fulvio Fammoni - Chairman
  • Susanna Camusso
  • Carlo Ghezzi
  • Danilo Barbi
  • Carla Cantone
  • Giovanni Forte
  • Raffaele Minelli
  • Marcelle Marie Padovani
  • Gianni Rinaldini