“Lessons in History” is an unprecedented program of five meetings with the theme “The Power of Ideas” in 2024, which focus on ideas, their power and the protagonists who have embodied them, offering the audience new points of view and new tools to deal with a very complex present and a future that looks increasingly uncertain.
The cycle of Lessons in History is conceived by Editori Laterza and co-produced with the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti of Bergamo. In a famous passage from Lectures on the Philosophy of History, Hegel refers to what he calls the “cosmic-historical individuals.” That is, the protagonists who mark by their actions the spirit of their times. Men and women, in short, who “make history.” The German philosopher cites for example Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon. But are we sure that it was and is only the great leaders, or kings and queens, emperors and popes who “make history”? Certainly, to them we owe radical changes in the destinies of peoples. But we also owe radical changes-whose effects can last through centuries and millennia-to men and women who did not command armies, enact laws and rule empires. They are the ones who imposed a new vision of society, of values, of humanity. They are the men and women who interpreted reality in a new way, and by the force of their ideas (and sometimes at the price of self-sacrifice) changed – for better or worse – mindsets, laws, lives. To these protagonists of their time and the worldviews they were able to generate is dedicated the new cycle of History Lessons. All meetings were held at the Donizetti Theater.
All lectures were introduced by Max Pavan, journalist and Bergamo TV host.

The program for the 2025 edition will be presented soon! Stay tuned!