Enrico Molinaro

Rome — scholar and convenor

Enrico Molinaro

Scholar of Jerusalem’s Holy Places with a doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Secretary General of RIDE-APS and national coordinator of the Anna Lindh Foundation network in Italy.

RIDE-APS has headed that network by Foreign Ministry appointment since 15 September 2017; it counted 196 member organisations in September 2026. Medi-Jer, the annual conference he created in 2019, held its eighth edition at the European Parliament office in Rome in June 2026.

From 2006 to 2008 Prospettive Mediterranee, the association he founded, ran the Israeli–Palestinian seminars in Rome that produced “Guidelines for a Future Arrangement” for the Holy Places, supervised jointly by Nazmi Al-Jubeh and Gilead Sher.

  • 196member organisations in the network in Italy
  • 8editions of Medi-Jer since 2019
  • 2006–08Israeli–Palestinian seminars in Rome

Read the recordFull record: 62 items with sources

Enrico Molinaro

I2015–2026

Euro‑Mediterranean dialogue

Five entries: the Medi-Jer conference he created, the Anna Lindh network he coordinates in Italy, a hearing before the Chamber of Deputies, the interfaith conference in Pitigliano and a two-day conference at the Farnesina.

0130 June 2026

Medi-Jer is the annual Euro-Mediterranean conference he created on the island of Ponza in 2019; it has met in Rome since 2023. The 2026 edition, “A New EU Vision for Cooperation in the Greater Mediterranean and the Gulf”, was organised by Prospettive Mediterranee, RIDE-APS and the Anna Lindh Foundation under the patronage of the European Commission Representation in Italy. He opened and closed the five-hour programme.

Spoke Amb. Giampiero Massolo; Emanuela Del Re, former EU Special Representative for the Sahel; Riccardo Di Segni, Chief Rabbi of Rome; Nader Akkad, imam of the Great Mosque of Rome; Bishop emeritus Ambrogio Spreafico; Brando Benifei MEP; Senator Lucio Malan

  • 2025Seventh edition, on the Gulf’s new geopolitical balances, with the European Parliament office in Italy and the Euro-Gulf Information Centre. Luigi Di Maio spoke as EU Special Representative for the Gulf.
  • 2021The third edition, held in Ventotene for the 80th anniversary of the Ventotene Manifesto, received the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic.
  • 2020Second edition, on Ponza, for the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona Declaration. Miguel Ángel Moratinos (UN Alliance of Civilizations), Nasser Kamel (Union for the Mediterranean), Nabil Al-Sharif (Anna Lindh Foundation) and Angelo Riccaboni (PRIMA) spoke.

Programme and speakers

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02Since 15 September 2017

The Italian Foreign Ministry appointed RIDE-APS, which he co-founded in June 2017 and serves as Secretary General, to head the Foundation’s national network in cooperation with the Municipality of Bologna. The network counted 196 approved member organisations in September 2026. He is its national coordinator; the assembly of 30 June 2026 reconfirmed all officers.

  • 2018On 22 November he spoke at the Rome presentation of the Foundation’s “Intercultural Trends” report with its President Élisabeth Guigou, its Executive Director Nabil Al-Sharif and Romano Prodi.
  • 2020–21The Foundation funded “Ponza Prima Med”, a RIDE project with Partners for Transparency (Egypt) and the Jerusalem Center for Women (Palestine).

Programme and speakers

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0328 October 2020

The Committee, chaired by Piero Fassino, heard representatives of RIDE in its fact-finding inquiry on Italy’s foreign policy for peace and stability in the Mediterranean. He spoke as Secretary General, with Min. Plen. Enrico Granara of the Foreign Ministry.

Programme and speakers

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04September 2021

Third edition of the interfaith conference of the Diocese of Pitigliano-Sovana-Orbetello. Cardinals Bassetti and Betori took part, and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, received the EPhESO prize.

Programme and speakers

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0526–27 February 2015

A two-day conference at the Farnesina on economic development and cooperation policies for the Mediterranean and the Middle East. He moderated and chaired sessions with speakers from the Bank of Italy, ENI, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and Limes, and with Israeli and Palestinian economic officials.

Spoke Lucio Caracciolo (Limes); Pasquale Salzano (ENI); Sergio Piazzi (Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean); Paola Giucca (Bank of Italy)

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II2002–2021

Jerusalem’s Holy Places

Closed-door seminars with Israeli and Palestinian experts in Rome, two books on the Holy Places, and a round table in Madrid with Yossi Beilin and Afif Safieh.

062006–2008 · 2021

Between December 2006 and December 2008 Prospettive Mediterranee brought Israeli and Palestinian experts to Rome for five closed-door sessions on the Holy Places of Jerusalem, at the Casina del Cardinal Bessarione and Villa Piccolomini. The sponsors were the European Commission Representation in Italy, the Italian Foreign Ministry, the City and Province of Rome, Lazio Region, ISGI-CNR and CISCI.

The series produced “The Holy Places of Jerusalem: Guidelines for a Future Arrangement”, supervised jointly by Nazmi Al-Jubeh and Gilead Sher.

  • 2021A further round followed the project “Safeguarding religious sites: Israeli-Palestinian contributions for safe and peaceful worship”, winner of an Italian Foreign Ministry call.

Programme and speakers

Sources

072002 · 2009

“Negotiating Jerusalem: Preconditions for Drawing Scenarios Based on Territorial Compromises” was published by PASSIA in Jerusalem in 2002. “The Holy Places of Jerusalem in Middle East Peace Agreements: The Conflict between Global and State Identities”, drawn from his Hebrew University doctorate, followed from Sussex Academic Press in 2009.

The second book was reviewed in Middle Eastern Studies, The Middle East Journal and Digest of Middle East Studies, and endorsed by Prof. Raymond Cohen of the Hebrew University and by Luigi Ferrari Bravo, former judge of the International Court of Justice.

  • 2009At the Rome book conference of 19 November, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini chaired a round table with Nazmi Al-Jubeh, Mark Heller, Piero Fassino and Luigi Ferrari Bravo.

Programme and speakers

Sources

IIIwho did what, and when

Institutions

Fourteen institutions, each with what it did, the year and the document that shows it.

InstitutionWhat it didYearSource
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairsappointed RIDE-APS to head the Anna Lindh network in Italy2017
Chamber of Deputies, Foreign Affairs Committeeheard him in its inquiry on Mediterranean policy2020
Presidency of the Italian Republicawarded its medal to the third Medi-Jer2021
European Commission Representation in Italysponsored the Jerusalem seminars; gave its patronage to the eighth Medi-Jer2006–08 · 2026
European Parliament Office in Italyhosted the seventh and eighth Medi-Jer2025 · 2026
Anna Lindh Foundationfunded a project with partners in Egypt and Palestine2020–21
Union for the Mediterraneanits Secretary General spoke at the second Medi-Jer; co-organised a session in 20232020 · 2023
UN Alliance of Civilizationsits High Representative spoke at the 2020 and 2023 conferences2020 · 2023
Hebrew University of Jerusalemawarded his doctorate2006
PASSIA, Jerusalempublished “Negotiating Jerusalem”2002
Sussex Academic Presspublished “The Holy Places of Jerusalem in Middle East Peace Agreements”2009
ISPIlisted him as panel speaker at Rome MED Dialogues2021
Karlsruhe Institute of Technologyinvited him as panelist to the 23rd Karlsruhe Dialogues2019
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Italysupported Prospettive Mediterranee’s Jerusalem work2009–10

IV2002–2018

Method and publications

The working method of the seminars, followed by six publications from 2002 to 2018.

His method starts from the rules in force: a detailed study of the Status Quo and of every arrangement applied to Jerusalem’s Holy Places. In the seminars, Israeli and Palestinian experts first agreed on a shared glossary of the most contested terms and then drafted policy options.

His research reads Mediterranean conflicts through two models of collective identity, which he calls Statalist and Glocalist.

  1. 2009The Holy Places of Jerusalem in Middle East Peace Agreements: The Conflict between Global and State IdentitiesSussex Academic Press
  2. 2002Negotiating Jerusalem: Preconditions for Drawing Scenarios Based on Territorial CompromisesPASSIA, Jerusalem
  3. 2018“The Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue Starts from Collective Identities”, in The Mediterranean as a PlazaCisalpino
  4. 2014“La competizione tra élites statali e glocali: il caso-studio di Gerusalemme e dei suoi Luoghi Santi”, in I fondamentalismi religiosi nel mondo contemporaneoEurilink
  5. 2013“Gerusalemme tra status quo e conflitti identitari”, in Su GerusalemmeCastelvecchi
  6. 2009“L’Osservatorio sui Luoghi Santi di Gerusalemme: una proposta per favorire il dialogo arabo-israeliano”La Comunità Internazionale, 2/2009

VOctober 2026

Current roles

Four positions he holds as of October 2026.

  • since 2000President, Prospettive Mediterranee, Rome
  • since 2010Chairman, Jerusalem Holy Places Center
  • since 2017Secretary General, RIDE-APS, Italian Network for Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue
  • since 2017National coordinator, Anna Lindh Foundation network in Italy

Contact

Contact details will be added once he approves this text.

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