In the Pontine islet some intellectuals meeting “ recognize each other ”, to use the words of one of them , Altiero Spinelli . Ernesto Rossi , Altiero Spinelli , Eugenio Colorni , Ursula Hirschmann , sporadically Ada Rossi ( Ernesto ’ s wife ), who lives in Bergamo and arrives on the island only for a visit , and very few other confined compare ideas , experiences , ambitions and their vision of the world . From the encounter , sometimes clash , of this intelligence comes what has gone down in history as the Ventotene Manifesto , the programmatic document of European federalism of Italian origin . A main basic idea : the overcome of national sovereign states and the creation of a European federation as the only possible form of peaceful coexistence in Europe .
For the realization of this ideal , a true European unity , Ursula begins to fight immediately . Benefiting from fewer restrictions on movement , the young woman manages to bring the Manifesto to the continent transcribed on small cigarette papers hidden in the fur pillowcase , and to spread it . Ada Rossi also plays the same role , as well as Altiero ’ s sisters . In 1941-1942 these women began a work of proselytism - which continued in geometric progression - thanks to which it was possible to organize a meeting of the neo-federalists immediately after the fall of fascism in a few weeks . The meeting was held at the end of August 1943 in Milan , in the home of the Rollier couple . It is the birth of the European Federalist Movement .
The meeting has another value for Ursula . The marriage with Eugenio ended some time ago and in the Rollier home Ursula sees Altiero after two years 5 . Since then , they will never break up . They
5 . Eugenio Colorni , after the birth of his third daughter , asked and obtained the transfer to a place of confinement in the « mainland ». Mr and Mrs Colorni left Ventotene on October 1941 .
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