The Italian plan for commemorating the Centenary of the First World War falls within a wider international project involving all the then belligerent countries.
This anniversary is particularly important for the construction of our European identity, having considered that the political system, the institutions, the cultural, moral, religious values, and the ideas operating in Italy and in Europe were upset by a decision not shared by most of the population, and this was at the origin of a separation with long-lasting ideological consequences.
During the period of Commemorations for the Centenary of the First World War, scheduled between 2014 and 2018, the Government will undertake the adoption of own initiatives as well as harmonising the activities promoted by the different authorities involved, by coordinating different projects characterised by the same objectives.
In agreement with the relevant Ministries and Institutions, the main objective is to:

• Implement activities involving the conservation and restoration of sites and monuments, as well as the setting up and mounting of museums and exhibitions;
• Promote the retrieval of stories and Sites of Memory that are either forgotten or neglected; enhance those already included in museums or in tourist paths, hence strengthening a “tourism of memory” with possible positive outcomes on local economies;
• Support the completion of the general recognition on archives, historical and artistic collections and documentaries, and strengthen their knowledge through publishing initiatives;
• Launch educational programmes – with schools and through the main media – mainly addressed to young generations, aimed to promote the knowledge of facts, and to raise awareness on the value of Peace, brotherhood, and integration of peoples.
• Launch and coordinate a new global historiographical analysis on the Great War, whose memory and all the related political, cultural and civil events represent a fundamental step in the process of construction of the European identity, of our national history, and as a moment of cohesion among the Italians from every Region;
• By means of civil and military commemorations linked to specific dates, places and events, raise citizens’ awareness at national level, and share within the international landscape the unitary trait of events and the value of a renewed European and non-European dialogue among the then belligerent peoples;
• Make all the initiatives linked to Commemorations immediately recognisable by citizens.

Commemorations in Italy will begin in 2014, one hundred years after the outbreak of the First World War. Although Italy entered the conflict against the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1915 and against Germany in 1916, commemorative events will be in line with all the other Countries involved, in consideration of the supranational and European value of the event, as well as of the consequences affecting our Country as from 1914.