Event report

On 20 October at the Gran Caffè Quadri in St Mark’s Square, the meeting “Europe and Women” was held as part of the successful festival of Caffè Europa, included in the Europe Day in Venice. The event was organised by Europe Direct Venice Veneto of the City of Venice and the Italian headquarters of the Council of Europe in Venice. Speakers were rapporteurs Ermelinda Damiano, President of the City Council, Laura Ambrosino, Head of Media and Communication of the European Commission (Representation in Milan), Luisella Pavan-Woolfe, Director of the Italian Representation of the Council of Europe, Patrizia Marcuzzo, head of the Antiviolence Centre of the City of Venice, The event was moderated by Giovanni De Luca, Director of Rai Veneto. The meeting focused on women’s rights in general with the presentation of the March 2021 report prepared by the European Commission. However, particular attention has been paid to the Venetian territory, in fact several initiatives implemented by the City of Venice to promote gender equality have been presented. In addition, the importance of the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2021, was underlined.