Drawing on Heidegger’s and Herder’s works, this paper tries to identify a feature of identity both at an individual and an institutional level, according to changes happening in institutions from time to time throughout history. In particular, attention is given to Istria and the dramatic epilogue of the Second World War, known as the Istrian exodus, in the border region of north-eastern Italy. In this context, the remarkable figure of Maria Pasquinelli is presented, a teacher who paid a personal price to affirm her identity with determination. If some never managed to found their own identity (Pirandello), others saw in the recognition of the other the only solution to identity issues (Buber, Socrates-Plato, Pius XII). This allowed them to grow in humanity, an “enhanced” humanity, in which one’s own identity may be inscribed, both at individual and institutional level.
