The PhD in History of Europe has as its goal the analysis of individual national cultures also considered in their interaction and projection beyond the continent. With particular interdisciplinary methodology ample space is dedicated to issues related to politics, economics, and social history in a diachronic perspective, where key-events that express modernization between modern and contemporary periods are identified, albeit with significant differences between European countries. The main objective is to reconstruct some of the essential steps of the process of formation of the political and cultural space of Europe in the modern and contemporary periods, starting from the “idea of ​​Europe” (Chabod, Saitta) to the new perceptions also generated in historical studies by the recent European unification process. One of the topics of the course are historiographical debates, animated by different interpretations, through which the relationship between history, economics, philosophy, law, politics are emphasized, in order to shed light onto the roots of national stories. To this end, the course critically examines the themes of national identity and the resulting issues of socio-cultural integration between peoples, cultures, traditions and countries. In accordance with the acquired cultural heritage, students work “on the ground,” that is, analyze data from primary sources in relation to the changing scenarios of international modern and contemporary politics, such as the recurrence of the old nineteenth-century debate in Russia between “Slavophiles” and “Westerners” or the intra-European political relations between macro-regions such as between the Mediterranean and North-Central Europe or even between the Balkans and Western Balkans. The program of the PhD course includes differing curricula – with specific paths of research studies in which students are supervised by their tutors – in accordance with the lines of the overall project that provides circulation, proposing two directions, from Italy to Europe and from Europe to Italy. Students, besides conducting their research studies in archives, libraries, and other institutions, are required to attend lectures and meetings organized by the PhD – round tables, seminars, debates – in order to enrich their cursus studiorum for understanding better the long-term cultural processes as well as the current events. For these reasons, the course includes both Italian and foreign lectures who can give their contribution as specialists as well for the comparison of international historiographies. Students’ works are periodically evaluated (at least twice a year) by the PhD Committee that examine the consistency and quality of works in progress. In principle, the relationship with the tutor who guides and follows the student’s research is constant, but depending on specific needs, also other Italian and foreign experts can be involved. The working group of the PhD, in fact, willingly collaborates with universities and colleagues in other countries to deepen the subjects of studies as shown by numerous works published in Italy and abroad as well as international agreements – for example with Autonomous University of Lisbon (Portugal) and Petru Maior University of Targu Mures (Romania) – and other forms of active collaboration with foreign universities (Moscow, New York, Istanbul, Baku, etc.)