The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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2017

•

On November 27, at a ceremony presid-

ed over by Dominican Vice President Margarita

Cedeño—acting on behalf of President Medina, who

was out of the country at the time—a reception that I

had organized was held to greet the diplomatic corps,

and the members of the Government, the Senate, and

the Chamber of Deputies present at the event. I intro-

duced myself as the new Italian ambassador and set

out to explain my mission. I still remember the great

joy and emotion of the Italian community present at

the ceremony, and also the pride of being Italian and of

being represented with honor and prestige, sentiments

well described by the engineer Renzo Seravalle who

remembers the event in Chapter 44, “A Brief History

of the Casa de Italia, Inc. in Santo Domingo,” written

in conjunction with Professor Rolando Forestieri. As I

clearly shared with all the guests on that occasion, my first efforts as an ambassador were the relaunching of

diplomatic relations between the two countries, the building of shared logistical but also institutional struc-

tures—above all for economic and cultural promotion—and understanding the problems and needs of the Ital-

ian community in the Dominican Republic. It was not only necessary to get to know the different members of

this community, but also to standardize consular services and locate new offices to ensure the efficient and safe

provision of these services. The main objectives to be pursued with utmost expediency included the relaunch-

ing of diplomatic relations—under the guidance of Director General Luca Sabbatucci in Rome—as well as the

strengthening of the bilateral Chamber of Commerce and the construction of infrastructures and platforms for

cultural dialogue (e.g., with the creation of an Italian Cultural Center and chair, which in September 2019 was

launched as the Bishop Alessandro Geraldini Chair and Cultural Center at the Pontificia Universidad Católica

Madre y Maestra), and the normalization of consular services.

2018

•

On May 1 and 2, thanks to a decision by the Dominican Presidency of the Council of Foreign Affairs

Ministers of the Central American Integration System (SICA), a SICA meeting was held in Rome at the Minis-

try of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation together with the Italo-Latin American Institute (IILA), thus reflecting

another gesture of friendship with Italy. Apart from the MAECI-IILA-SICA meeting held on May 2 in Rome,

we must also mention the meeting on May 3 between the former Minister of Italian Foreign Affairs, Angelino

Alfano, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, Miguel Vargas Maldonado.

On October 4, 2018, at the state-of-the-art Convention Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Santo

Domingo, with the participation of Italian Undersecretary of State Ricardo A. Merlo, Dominican Foreign

Minister Vargas Maldonado, and IILA Secretary General Donato Di Santo, we inaugurated a landmark exhi-

bition celebrating the fifty years of the IILA, an organization created to promote dialogue between Italy and

the region.

On October 5, 2018, I organized the inauguration ceremony of the new offices of the diplomatic and

consular chancellery of Italy in Santo Domingo, in the presence of Italian Undersecretary of State Ricardo A.

Merlo; Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado; Dominican Ambassador to Italy Alba María Cabral; the

auxiliary bishop of Santo Domingo, Monsignor Faustino Burgos; members of the press; and representatives of

the Italian community in the country. These secure, efficient, and simple offices were chosen with great care

so as to once again offer consular services to Italian citizens. This renewal was made possible thanks to the

support of MAECI, the Inspectorate General, the Directorate General for Resources and Innovation (DGRI),

and, in particular the Deputy Inspector General Agostino Palese.

Opening of “Italian

Month” at BlueMall

Santo Domingo,

Professors Loriana

Zanuttigh and Giorgio

Forni from the

Fondazione Sartirana

Arte of Pavia, together

with Ambassador

Andrea Canepari

and his wife Roberta

and the directors

of BlueMall Santo

Domingo, Daniela and

Luis Emilio Velutini.

September 27, 2018.