The President of the Miracle: Luigi Einaudi Celebrated at the University of Trieste

President of the Republic, economist, professor, journalist, and Governor of the Bank of Italy: the multifaceted figure of Luigi Einaudi was at the heart of the event “The President of the Miracle,” organized by the University of Trieste and the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, and hosted by the Trieste university.

The event's venue was chosen to commemorate a particularly significant episode in the historical trajectory of Einaudi’s presidency, during which the history of Italy intertwined with that of Trieste and its university.

This initiative celebrates the 150th anniversary of Luigi Einaudi’s birth (1874–1961) and marks the conclusion of the official events honoring the Centenary of the University of Trieste. It also recalls the 70th anniversary of the honorary degree conferred upon Einaudi by the Giulian university during his presidency, coinciding with Trieste's return to Italian sovereignty.

During the conference, the documentary The President of the Miracle, directed by filmmaker Pupi Avati and produced by the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, was screened. The film retraces the life of the "President of the Miracle" and, through archival materials, interview fragments, and statements, seeks to revive Einaudi’s thought: fiscal discipline, competition, and a strict separation between politics and economics. These principles underpinned the economic boom that generated wealth for Einaudi's generation and the ones that followed.

The screening was followed by a roundtable discussion on the contributions, legacy, and contemporary relevance of Einaudi's ideas. The session, moderated by Fabrizio Brancoli, Deputy Director of the Nem Group with responsibility for Il Piccolo newspaper in Trieste, featured contributions from Andrea Cangini, Secretary General of the Luigi Einaudi Foundation; Emma Galli, Director of the Foundation's Scientific Committee and Professor of Public Finance at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”; Francesco Magris, Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Trieste; and Giacinto Micucci, Deputy Director of the Trieste branch of the Bank of Italy.

“Within the Centenary celebrations of the University of Trieste, it was essential to dedicate an event to Luigi Einaudi, a statesman and scholar tied to a significant chapter in the history of our university and city,” explained Rector Roberto Di Lenarda during his opening remarks.

“Throughout this year of celebrations, we have recounted the history of UniTS as a journey that honors the past but looks forward with determination and optimism. We have strengthened our relationships with institutions, the world of science and culture, and the wider community, aiming to increasingly serve as an essential reference point for our region and the scientific world, to build the future of knowledge in synergy,” the Rector concluded.

For the Luigi Einaudi Foundation, the Trieste event was another opportunity to share the legacy of Italy’s first President of the Republic elected by Parliament with audiences both young and old. “In an era when politics was divided between those who believed society’s focus should be the party, the Church, the social class, or the State,” noted Andrea Cangini, “Luigi Einaudi held that at the center of everything should be the individual. The individual, free and ambitious. For Einaudi, the material and moral progress of society depended on the material and moral progress of each individual citizen—not the other way around.”

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