The inventory of the Olympic Office, established in 1959 within the then General Directorate of Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is now available online. The office had the task of managing affairs relating to the international aspects of the organisation of the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, and was operational, under the leadership of Ludovico Barattieri, until September of the same year. The inventory, edited by Isabella Proia, enhances documentation dating from 1957-1960.
The correspondence with the Organising Committee of the Games, chaired by Giulio Andreotti, then Minister of Defence, is particularly numerous. The main business dealt with by the Office was the management of the invitations issued to the 97 participating countries through their foreign representations, the distribution of illustrative and promotional material to the representations, the establishment, in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior and SIFAR, of the so-called "Olympic card" for the participants. This was a special recognition card to which the validity of a passport was attributed for all purposes.
The office also dealt with the management of international relations and ceremonial and customs matters. Among the most interesting documents were two examples of tourist material, one in Italian and one in French, which provided advice on how to organise a trip to Italy, with information on the road network and air connections.
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