The essay questions the crisis of the conscience of Europe from a philosophical-political point of view. The thought of Husserl and Heidegger about the identity of Europe in the short century, in the wake of the exhaustion of the Hegelian mediation, is a key reference. The essay goes back to the origin of the European historia , while the theoretical perspective that reflects the archè and the telos of its truth crosses the season of totalitarianism and war, as well as of the construction of the European institutions in the second half of the twentieth century, so that questions associated with present times can be addressed. In particular the questions related to the technological deverlopment, the governing role of economy and the challenge of the sovereignisms are considered in the light of an idea of Europe which opens up to a “community of distinct”, having a strong, self-confident and therefore hospitable nature.