The Editors : Stella Avallone, born in 1961 in Vienna, has been working for the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs since 1985, among others, at the Austrian Embassies at Moscow and Bratislava ; from 2003 to 2007 she was Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum Milan. Bianca Valota-Cavallotti, born in 1946 in Bucharest, has been Professor for Eastern European History at State University Milan since 1987, Secretary General of the International Commission for Slavic Historical Studies and of the International Committee for Historical Sciences.