In 1987, Franco Giannotti, Angelo Sita, Giovanni Ferrara, and Msgr. Salvatore Polizzi founded St Louis – Bologna Sister Cities Committee with the cooperation and support of Bologna Mayor Renzo Imbeni and St Louis Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl. The sister cities committee flourished for over a decade with reciprocal youth summer exchange programs, language teacher exchanges, cultural tours, lectures, and scholarship fundraising for college students.

In 2018, after a period of inactivity, Michael J. Cross, president of La Comunita’ degli Italiani – St Louis, reformed the St Louis – Bologna Sister Cities Committee along with Franco Giannotti (an original founder and President of Club Italiano Per Piacere), Giovanna Leopardi, Francesca Giacomozzi, Benedetta Orsi, and Luciana Borbeli. A board of directors was formed and, once again, relations between St. Louis and our sister city, Bologna, Italy, were reignited.

The goal for 2018 is to resurrect the exchange program with the University of Bologna. The University of Bologna is the world's oldest university and in recent years has added many M.A. and Ph.D. programs geared towards international students. The deadline to apply for the 2018-2019 school year is May 14. The St Louis - Bologna Sister Cities Organization is proud to re-establish ties with the University of Bologna for the first time in over 20 years! For more more information regarding the programs, please use the following link http://www.unibo.it/en/teaching/phd/2018-2019#!

For more information on the St Louis - Bologna Sister Cities Organization scholarships to attend the University of Bologna, please contact Michael J Cross at: michael.cross@nm.com