Istituto Italiano Di Studi Germanici - IISG

The Italian Institute of Germanic Studies, established in 1931 with the legal status of a cultural institution, was inaugurated on 3 April 1932 , on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of the death of Johann Wolfgang Goethe and parallel to the creation of the Petrarca Haus in Cologne, by Giovanni Gentile, in the presence of Benito Mussolini.

The Institute is located in the building located within the park of Villa Sciarra-Wurts on the Janiculum, bequeathed to the Italian State by Henriette Wurts-Tower, widow of the American diplomat George Washington Wurts. The condition of the donation was that the building house a cultural center intended to promote closer ties of knowledge and friendship between Italy and Germany and that the villa be open to the public. In 2006, the Institute was transformed into a national public research body (with a non-instrumental nature) and is supervised by the Ministry of University and Research.