Associazione Culturale Euskara - Erromako Euskal Etxea

The Associazione Culturale Euskara, the Basque centre of Rome, was not created to bring together a colony but to make Basque culture known to anyone interested in it. Its president, the musician Alex Mendizabal, from Donostia-San Sebastián, summed it up this way in 2003: “our project is geared towards outreach and aims to reach everyone interested in our culture, whether they are Basque or not”. It was set up in 2002 and the Basque Government recognised it on 19 November that year; in the 2003-2004 academic year it taught two levels of Basque at the Università Popolare di Roma, with 19 students in the first and 9 in the second, and in 2005 it opened a Department of Basque Language and Culture there. In 2015 it received the ENE award from Eusko Ikaskuntza. It is the only recognised Basque centre in Italy, and the register credits it with 21 members.