Inauguration of the 464th academic year: ceremony presented

This morning, during a well-attended press conference convened in the Aula Magna, the Magnificent Rector Gavino Mariotti presented the inauguration ceremony of the 464th academic year.

The Rector will officially inaugurate the 464th academic year of the university on Friday 6 February at 11.00 at the Teatro Verdi in Sassari (via Politeama 8). Guest of honor will be the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Raffaele Fitto.

The ceremony

After the entrance of the academic procession to the notes of the university anthem "Gaudeamus igitur", institutional greetings from the President of the Sardinia Region, Alessandra Todde, are expected.

Following this, the Rector will deliver the inaugural speech. Nicoletta Pinna, Representative of Doctoral and Specializing Students in the Academic Senate, and will then speak

Antonio Francesco Piana, Head of the Research and Quality Office.

Immediately afterwards, Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Cohesion and Reforms, will speak.

This will be followed by the traditional speech of the new Pontifex Maxima of the Turritana Goliardic Association, Anda I Maxima Aurea (aka Gabriella Piga). In closing, the Magnificent Rector will proclaim the opening of the 2025-2026 academic year, the 464th since its foundation.

The Choir of the University of Sassari directed by Irene Dore, the Tenores of Bitti "Mialinu Pira" and the singer Maria Giovanna Cherchi together with the musician Manuel Rossi Cabizza will participate.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on the website  www. uniss. it . You can access the theater with invitation or accreditation, after registering at the entrance, from 9.45am to 10.30am.

Raffaele Fitto, born on 28 August 1969 in Maglie (Lecce), had a prominent political career both in Italy and in Europe. He began his political journey in the 1990s and was elected to the European Parliament in 1999, marking the beginning of his influence on the European scene. He was President of the Puglia Region from 2000 to 2005 and a member of the Italian Parliament from 2006 to 2014 and again from 2022 to 2024. During this period he also held the position of Minister for Regional Affairs in the Berlusconi government from 2008 to 2011. Returning to the European Parliament in 2014, Fitto held key roles within the Conservatives and Reformists group European Council (ECR), serving as co-president from 2019 to 2022 and focusing in particular on economic cohesion and regional development. Since 2022 he has held the role of Minister for European Affairs in the government of Giorgia Meloni and, on 17 September 2024, he was appointed Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Cohesion and Reforms, consolidating his role as a leading figure in Italian and European politics.

OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 464TH ACADEMIC YEAR

Plan

Entrance of the academic procession 
accompanied by the university anthem  Gaudeamus igitur 
performed by the University of Sassari Choir, directed by Maestro Irene Dore

National anthem

Institutional greetings

Alessandra Todde, President of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia

Gavino Mariotti, Inaugural report by the Magnificent Rector 

 Nicoletta Pinna, Representative of Doctoral and Postgraduate Students in the Academic Senate

Antonio Francesco Piana, Head of the Research and Quality Office

Intervention

Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice President of the European Commission

Solemn declaration of opening of the 2025-2026 academic year

464th since foundation

With the participation of the singer

Maria Giovanna Cherchi accompanied on the piano by Manuel Rossi Cabizza

Bitti's Tenores “Mialinu Pira”

Choir of the University of Sassari, directed by Maestro Irene Dore

Speech by the Turritana Goliardic Association

It will be possible to follow the ceremony in live streaming 

on the site  www. uniss. it