The Statute
The Foundation “Francesco Paolo and Annamaria Ducci”, which has its institutional headquarters at the Castle of Goro in Montebenichi (AR) and its registered legal office at the Palazzo Cisterna at 163 Via Giulia in Rome, is based on a statute drafted in 1999, the year of the establishment of the Foundation.
The statute defines in its art. 2 the goals and objectives of the Foundation. In particular, it provides for the non-profit sponsorship of events, conferences, festivals, seminars, roundtable discussions, exhibitions, concerts, theatre plays, cinema screenings, and educational courses of all kinds and levels. The Foundation establishes awards and scholarships, publishes books, newspapers, and magazines and disseminates information through traditional methods of communication and telecommunication. Furthermore, it collaborates with other agencies and institutions for the implementation of initiatives and projects.
Moreover, the statute establishes that in order to carry out its activities in the most effective way, the Foundation may institute specific thematic sections and Committees through an implementing regulation to be publicized.
The Foundation operates in the socio-economic, scientific, cultural, and artistic fields, as well as in the domain of historical and political research. The Foundation endeavours to promote the spirit of the Renaissance, which reached its highest point in Italy. The affirmation of the European common heritage of thought and creativity represents the core mission of the Foundation. This goal is significant especially today, as the phenomenon of globalization is challenging the notion of independent ideas and the intellectual and emotional qualities of the individual.
Research and comparative in-depth analysis in the fields above-mentioned, in the sphere of the European continent, are the themes most applicable to international relations and historical development which help to promote the events and moments of reflection with the intention of encouraging the circulation and the comparison of the different souls of the European culture in its many forms. The Foundation works to achieve its objectives through a process of enlargement and integration of the institutional reality that does not abandon but praises the diversity that these themes represent.
Particularly aware of the significant changes emerging in today’s society, with special regard to the serious demographic, nutritional, ecological, and environmental issues affecting the world, the “Francesco Paolo and Annamaria Ducci Foundation” intends to pursue its objective within the framework of a harmonious development of different religious, philosophical, and ideological movements. Above all, the Foundation aims to bridge the rift between humanistic and technical sciences, with particular attention to the dialogue between the most important world cultures, as well as the recovery of the threatened civilizations and to the contribution that the EU can provide to the economic and social advancement of the countries of Eastern Europe and of the Third World with respect for their cultural identity.
Furthemore, the Ducci Foundation intends to promote any initiative which can contribute to enhance the relationship among scientific and intellectual communities in Europe and elsewhere though an open discussion and a constructive engagement.
The statute consists of 4 types of members, i.e.:
• Founding Members
• Meritorious Members
• Supporting Members
• Participating Members
The statute also establishes that the divisions of the Foundation are:
• The President
• The Board of Directors
• Executive Committee (or Directive Committee)
• The Board of Auditors
• The Secretary-General
• The Treasurer
It also sets out for each of them their specific powers and duties.
The statute finally establishes that if the intended purpose of the Foundation becomes impracticable and it is not possible to amend it, the Foundation would be closed and its heritage after the operations of liquidation would be donated to another foundation.
- The President
- The Board of Directors
- The Executive Committee (or Directive Committee)
- The Secretary-General
- The Treasurer
- The Board of Auditors
The President
The President for life of the Foundation is Dr. Paolo Ducci, founder and promoter of the Foundation. In the event of his death, resignation or impediment, the succession is regulated to the male line of the firstborn and in the absence of a male, the succession would pass to the female line. In the absence of direct progeny, the presidency is assigned to the descendants of the closely related Domenico.
In the event of the death of the Ducci Family or if all of the constituents are of minor age (and until the majority age of at least one of them) the President of the Foundation will be elected by the Board of Directors, with the possibility of someone being elected outside of the Board, and will remain in office for five years. In case of temporary impediment, the President may appoint within the Board of Directors, a Vice-President.
The President has the legal representation, both procedural and contractual, of the Foundation; he convenes and presides over the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee; he issues the necessary documents for the smooth functioning of the Foundation; he oversees the precise and timely execution of the measures deliberated by the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee; in the case of an emergency all actions are entrusted to him; he approves the purchases and transfer of movable and immovable furniture and property of up to twenty-five thousand Euros; and he appoints the Secretary and the Cashier.
The President also appoints, each year, the organizing committees for the events, the judges for the awards; he chooses the staff needed for the production of the events themselves without any limitations between Italian and foreign representatives in the realms of politics, economy, science, culture and art, according to the criteria of opportunity in relation to the type of event, in order to have the best implementation.
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors, which meets at least once a year, is chaired by the President and consists of the Founders, the Meritorious members, the Cashier and the General Secretary, as the role of the secretary. In order to achieve the aims of the Foundation, the Board of Directors in particular deliberates:
The general guidelines and the programs of activity
- The balance of the budget, the relative variations and the balance of financial statements
- The regulation of the staff under the regulatory and economic aspect
- The regulations concerning the organization and the operation of services
- The purchases, the transfer of property, which exceed the competence of the President, the leasing of property owned by the Foundation
- The purchases of goods which exceed the competence of the President
- Active and passive disputes
- The election of the President in case of death, resignation or inability of Dr. Paolo Ducci and his heir
- The contributions of meritorious, supporters or adherence members
The Executive Committee
The Executive Committee holds office for 5 years. It is chaired by the President and it is assembled by the General Secretary, the Treasurer and two members of the Board of Directors elected by the council itself.
The Executive Committee presides over the execution of all events organized by the Foundation and sees over all matters that are delegated to it by the Board of Directors.
General Secretary
The General Secretary of the Foundation is appointed by the President and has the managerial duties of the Foundation as well as other responsibilities assigned to him by the President and the Board of Directors.
The Treasurer
The Treasurer of the Foundation, appointed by the President, takes care of the funds of the Foundation; he has the direct responsibility of ordinary and extraordinary expenses, the registration of revenue and relative banking credit, and control over the content of the account books and safekeeping of related justifications.
The Board of Auditors
The regulation of accounts of the administration of the Foundation is entrusted to a board of account auditors, composed of three members, appointed by the Committee. Of these, one has the functions of the President and is freely chosen from among those that are registered in the Roster of Auditors, while the other two are chosen from a list of at least seven people designated by the Board of Directors, preferably chosen between the Founders, the Meritorious, the Supporting and the Adherence Members. The auditors hold office for five years and can be reappointed.
The organizational structure of the Foundation consists of:
- The Office of the President
- The Secretariat
- The Office of Event Planning
- The Press Office
- The Publications Office
The Office of the President
The Office of the President supervises all the activities that directly involve the President. Thus, preparing the appropriate documentation for the President’s meetings and for gatherings convened by him or those which he takes part in. The Head of the Office of the President is responsible for the correspondence of the Presidency and organizes, in his name and his delegation, meetings, reunions, visits and trips.
Secretariat
The Secretariat of the Foundation carries out all the Secretariat activities, serving as technical support to both the General Secretary and the technical and scientific Committees. The Secretariat also deals with all incoming correspondence, with the exception of that concerning the President. The Head of the Secretariat also arranges the verbalization of the meetings of the Executive Committee, of which he/she is institutionally the Secretary, organizing the agenda, with the instructions of the President and /or the General Secretary.
Office of Event Planning
The Office of Event Planning, in execution of the decisions made by the Executive Committee and on the basis of the information provided to the relevant scientific and technical Committee, coordinates the fulfilment of individual projects for events at different stages, managing the staff to be made available, if necessary, by the Executive Board, in agreement and under the supervision of a member of the Executive Committee ad hoc delegated.
Honour Committee
The Ducci Foundation’s Honour Committee was established by the Executive Council on March 22, 2000 with the purpose of acknowledging, in particular, those who have expressed their support substantially or formally to the goals of the Foundation or have given substantial aid to its activities.
Following said resolution, the President of the Foundation, on the basis of the powers conferred to him by art. 4 of the Statute, appoints the constituents from among those who have contributed profitably to the Foundation’s activities, taking part in its initiatives, encouraging the fulfillment of specific events in order to promote the circulation and the comparison of the various souls of culture of the continent in its many forms, or to promote intercultural dialogue.
The Committee’s headquarter is set at the branch of the Foundation in Palazzo Cisterna in Via Giulia, Rome.
The present members of the Honour Committee of the Ducci Foundation are:
Chairman:
On.le Fabrizio Cicchitto (dal 6 novembre 2018)
On.le Giuseppe Pisanu (dal 1 agosto 2013 al 30 ottobre 2018)
Senatore a vita Emilio Colombo † (dal 1 marzo 2002 al 23 giugno 2013)
Prof. Tariq Ali
Dr. Giulio Anselmi
Prof. Mohammed Al Sammak
Prof. Shlomo Ben Ami
Arch. Marika Bollea
Prof. Achille Bonito Oliva
Prof. Tahar Ben Jelloun
M° Mohamed Briouel
Principessa Helietta Caracciolo di Forino
Prof. Lucio Caracciolo
Renato Carpentieri
Amb. Boris Biancheri Chiappori †
Sig.ra Corinne Cléry
On. Gianni De Michelis †
Sen. Lamberto Dini
Prof. Shirin Ebadi
Prof. Anna Foa
Comm. Francesco Ernani
Card. Roger Etchegaray †
M° Ahmed Essyad
M° Sergio Fermariello
Amb. Professor Luigi Vittorio Ferraris †
Amm. Renato Ferraro di Silvi e Castiglione
Sig.ra Carla Fracci
On. Franco Frattini
Prof. Alan Friedman
Avv. Lucio Ghia
Presidente Valery Giscard d’Estaing
M° Guillermo Gonzales
Prof. David Grossman
Prof. Bensalem Himmich
Sig.ra Yael Dayan
Dr. Eric Joszef
M° Ioannis Kounellis †
Dr. Erich Kusch †
On. Enrico Letta
Premio Nobel Rita Levi Montalcini †
Sig.ra Giuliana Loiodice
Prof. Roberto Pasca di Magliano
Prof. Dacia Maraini
M° Mimmo Paladino
M° Marcello Panni
M° Boris Petrushansky
Sen. Giovanni Pieraccini †
On. Giuseppe Pisanu
M° Maurizio Pollini
Prof. Arch. Paolo Portoghesi
Prof. Fulco Pratesi
On. Beatrice Rangoni Machiavelli
On. Umberto Ranieri
Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi
On. Alberto Ronchey †
Prof. Paolo Savona
Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza †
Card. Angelo Scola
Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi
Prof. Olga Strada
Prof. Mohamed Talbi
Premio Nobel Prof. Muhammad Yunus
Prof. Manuela Dviri
Card. Leonardo Sandri
- G. the Grand Muftì Ahmad Badr Al-Dhin Hassoun
Prof. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu
Sir Ivor Anthony Roberts
Mons. Paul Richard Gallagher
Sen. Mohamed Halaiqah
Amb. Hassan Abouyoub
Sen. Pier Ferdinando Casini
- Em. Vincenzo Mons. Paglia
On. Khalid Chaouki
Dr.ssa Noemi Di Segni
Sen. Domenico Fisichella
The technical-scientific Committees represent the primary support of the Executive Committee in the formulation of individual projects as well as in the evaluation of the scientific validity of the initiatives, above all in relation to the choice of themes and participants. The technical-scientific Committees, in addition, in conjunction with the Executive Committee, work to seek the compliance of projects with the statutory purposes of the Foundation.
The structure of the scientific Committees is not institutionalized in order to allow for the greatest flexibility and operation thereof. The Scientific Committee is composed of distinguished personalities from a variety of fields who are invited by the President of the Foundation to participate in the Committee. Each Committee arranges for its own coordinator.
The technical-scientific Committees are divided by subject and those currently operating are as follows:
COMMITTEE FOR HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL ANALYSIS
Chairman: Prof. Lucio Caracciolo
COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
Chairman: Prof. Alan Friedman
COMMITTEE FOR MUSICAL INITIATIVES
Chairman: M° Marcello Panni
COMMITTEE FOR THEATER
Chairwoman: Dacia Maraini
COMMITTEE FOR DANCE
Chairwoman: Carla Fracci
COMMITTEE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Chairman: Prof. Achille Bonito Oliva
COMMITTEE FOR CLASSICAL ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Chairman: Prof. Antonio Paolucci
COMMITTEE FOR DESIGN AND SCENOGRAPHY
Chairwoman: Marika Bollea
COMMITTEE FOR ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION, ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABILITY
Chairman: Fulco Pratesi
COMMITTEE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND HABITAT
Chairman: Prof. Paolo Portoghesi
COMMITTEE FOR INITIATIVES IN THE SOCIAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND NUTRITIONAL FIELDS
Chairman: Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza
COMMITTEE FOR PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Chairman: Cardinale Angelo Scola