Joined UNESCO: 27/01/1948
Hosts a number of Organizations of the UNITED NATIONS System, as:
ACC Subcommittee on Rural Development - Rome
FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - Rome
ICS - International Centre for Science and High Technology - Trieste
IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development - Rome
ILO/ITC - International Training Centre of the ILO - Turin
UNICRI - United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute - Rome
UNSC - United Nations Staff College - Turin
WFP - World Food Programme - Rome
Head of State and/or Government
Président de la République: H.E. Mr Giorgio NAPOLITANO
Président du Conseil des Ministres: Monsieur Matteo RENZI
Permanent Delegation to UNESCO
H. E. Mr Maurizio Enrico Luigi Serra
Permanent Delegate (15/01/2010)
Permanent Delegation of Italy to UNESCO
Hôtel de Gallifet
73, rue de Grenelle
01 44 39 21 50
H. E. Mrs Vincenza Lomonaco
Permanent Delegate (27/09/2013)
Permanent Delegation of Italy to UNESCO
Hôtel de Gallifet
73, rue de Grenelle
01 44 39 21 50
National Commission for UNESCO
President: Mr. Giovanni Puglisi
Secretary-General: Ambassador Lucio Alberto Savoia
Commission nationale italienne pour l'UNESCO
Piazza Firenze 27
(39-06) 687-3712, 13, 17, 23
comm.unesco(a)esteri.it; lucioalberto.savoia(a)esteri.it (SG)
National Commission for UNESCO
Representation in the Executive Board
||Member||Count Stefano Jacini||1948-1952||13-30||Chairperson||Count Stefano Jacini||1950-1951||22-26||Member||Mr Francesco Mameli||1952||30-31||Member||Mr Vittorino Veronese||1952-1958||32-52||Chairperson||Mr Vittorino Veronese||1956-1958||46-50||Member||Mr Gian Franco Pompei||1962-1970||64-85||Chairperson||Mr Gian Franco Pompei||1968-1970||81-85||Member||Ms Maria Luisa Paronetto Valier||1972-1976||91-100||Member||Mr Vittorio Mathieu||1976-1980||101-110||Member||Mr Gian Franco Pompei||1980-1985||111-122||Member||Ms Maria Luisa Paronetto Valier||1985-1989||123-132||Member||Mr Giacomo Ivancich Biaggini||1989-1991||133-136||Member||Mr Michelangelo Jacobucci||1991-1993||137-142||Member/Representative||Mr Giancarlo Leo||1993-1997||142-152||Representative||1999-2007||158-177||Representative||2007-2015||178-197
The 1991 amendment modified Article V of the Constitution, regarding the status of members of the Board. From the 27th session of the General Conference (1993), the Executive Board consists of Member States rather than of persons (26 C/Resolution 19.3).
Participation in subsidiary organs
Organs elected by the General Conference
Member (Term expires : 2015)
Member elected by the General Conference at its 36th session - Member of the Legal Committee from the beginning of the 37th session (2013) until the beginning of the 38th session (2015)
Member elected by the General Conference at its 37th session - Member of the Legal Committee from the beginning of the 38th session (2015) until the beginning of the 39th session (2017)
Conciliation and Good Offices Commission Responsible for Seeking the Settlement of any Disputes which may arise between States Parties to the Convention against Discrimination in Education
Member : Mr Francesco Margiotta-Broglio (Term expires : 38th General Conference)
Other intergovernmental organs
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
Member (Term expires : 2013)
Addresses delivered in the general policy debate by the Head of Delegation at the General Conference
36 session of the General Conference H.E. Mr Maurizio Enrico Luigi Serra, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate to UNESCO
Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 36th session of the General Conference and posted as received
35 session of the General Conference S.E. Sénateur Alfredo Mantica, Sous-Secrétaire d’Etat au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères
(Discours prononcé en italien, texte français fourni par la Délégation permanente de l'Italie après de l'UNESCO)
“L’Italie s’associe à la déclaration du Président de l’Union Européenne.”
Le mandat décennal du Directeur général Matsuura a eu pour effet (…) de marquer une étape cruciale dont nous pouvons aujourd’hui apprécier (…) toute l’expansion. (…) Nous pensons donc qu’il est prioritaire de poursuivre la réforme, de rationaliser les coûts surtout afférents au fonctionnement en tant que tel de notre Organisation.”
“Nous sommes convaincus que la culture représente aujourd’hui une vaste industrie destinée à avoir un poids croissant dans l’économie de tous les pays, outre le fait que c’est un vecteur puissant de progrès civil et de cohésion sociale pour tous les peuples.”
“(…) l’Italie a reçu récemment dans la ville royale de Monza, le premier Forum de l’UNESCO sur la culture et les industries culturelles. Il s’agit là d’une initiative qui a représenté une grande possibilité de rencontres et d’échanges entre créateurs et réalisateurs, entre partenariats publics et partenariats privés, entre les pays du Nord et les pays du Sud de la planète. J’ai le grand plaisir de rappeler (…) un projet qui, sur la base d’une collaboration exemplaire entre l’Italie, l’Éthiopie et l’UNESCO, a permis la réinstallation de l’obélisque d’Axoum dans son lieu d’origine.”
“Nous nous associons au programme EPT, nous y avons collaboré, l’éducation a toujours joué un rôle important. Le Gouvernement italien a toujours donné des contributions volontaires dans ce domaine, et est le premier donateur.”
“La science est importante, non seulement pour prévenir les catastrophes naturelles et les menaces provenant de phénomènes qui n’ont pas encore trouvé de réponse adéquate, y compris le changement climatique, mais également pour promouvoir le développement durable et réduire le fossé Nord / Sud. A cet égard, l’Italie est orgueilleuse de recevoir à Trieste, à la fin du lointain 1964, le Centre Abdul Salam pour la Physique Théorique, spécialisé dans le champ de la formation postuniversitaire en faveur de chercheurs provenant des Pays en voie de développement.”
“L’immense tragédie qui a frappé le Pacifique (…), souligne avec force l’exigence d’un forum multilatéral comme l’UNESCO qui, par ses organes spécialisés de recherche scientifique, peut contribuer à la gouvernance mondiale pour ces problèmes mondiaux devant lesquels aucun pays ne peut travailler tout seul.”
“(…) nous avons foi dans le « nouvel humanisme » qui guidera l’action de la future Directrice à laquelle l’Italie apportera tout son appui.”
34 session of the General Conference H.E. Mr Ugo Intini, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
(Translation from the Italian)
Globalization is part of the phenomena that includes major migrations, environmental emergencies, climatic change, the explosion of terrorism and transnational criminal organisations. However, globalization also offers major opportunities in the area of scientific discovery and the dissemination of knowledge and information and the increasing commitment to build a knowledge society. UNESCO has to learn how to confront and manage these major challenges and opportunities.
“Italy is convinced that we need to continue to make amendments under the Millennium Development Goals so that are fulfilled and in this manner we can eradicate poverty and hunger as well as the fight against illiteracy and environmental degradation.”
“Italy believes in the Organization and it is through the promotion of innovative activities such as the Convention on Cultural Diversity as well as a specialized agency of the United Nations where we can work through policies that contribute to more rational and equitable management of the impact of globalization in today’s and tomorrow’s world.”
As the United Nations agency whose mission is to defend freedom of expression and the freedom of the press, UNESCO will be in a unique position to provide an irreplaceable contribution to the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights celebration next year.
“I would also like to mention in particular the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, which remains just as relevant today. Consequently, we hope that its importance is reaffirmed during the course of this General Conference.”
“The close cooperation between my country and UNESCO can be extended to the Science Sector, with the Trieste Institution, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Abdul Salaam established in 1964, as well as the Science Academy for the Third World founded in 1983. […] I would like to recall also my government’s commitment to the success of “Water for Africa”, which is producing very positive results.”
“We are also very interested in the protection of migrants and the work that is to be done on the museum devoted to the memory of immigrants and the protection of autochthonous and minority languages which are under threat.”
Celebration of anniversaries
||200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, musician (1813-1901) (2013)
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813-1901) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, and style. His most famous opera works are Rigoletto, Nabucco, La traviata and Aida. Verdi’s masterworks dominate the standard repertoire a century and a half after their composition. (
100th anniversary of the birth of Giulio Einaudi, publisher (1912-1999) (2012)
Giulio Einaudi (1912-1999), editor and cultural promoter, was the son of Luigi Einaudi, future president of the Italian Republic, and his wife Ida. In 1933 he founded his own publishing house, Giulio Einaudi Editore. He worked until 1997 in the publishing business.
The activity of Giulio Einaudi as an editor and cultural promoter was of fundamental importance. In his role as an active witness of the democratic reconstruction, his oeuvre had the merit of significantly contributing to the progress of art studies, scientific research and in the national editorial market. Availing himself of highly intellectual collaborators, he managed to enrich the editorial view of the 20th century throughout the years, by publishing the works of many significant Italian writers (Pavese, Fenoglio, Elsa Morante, Primo Levi, Fo, Volponi, De Filippo, etc.) and by managing the translations of many leading figures of international literature (Queneau, Sartre, Saramago, Philip Roth, Arthur Miller, Pinter, Hrabal, McEwan, etc.).
||400th anniversary of Galileo’s Discoveries (1609) (2009)
The year 2009 will mark 400 years since the invention of the telescope and the revolutionary celestial observations that Galileo made thanks to it.
In the autumn of 1609, strange objects known as cannoni (cannons) or tubi ottici (optical tubes) appeared in Venice. Distant objects appeared much closer to those who looked through the tube's ocular lens. Like many others, Galileo Galilei's attention was caught by this tool, generally considered a curious plaything. He then worked on perfecting it and soon built more effective lenses. In Galileo's hands the plaything became a real scientific instrument. During the last weeks of 1609, Galileo directed the cannon at the starry sky. This paved the way for the unexpected discovery of sensational celestial novelties that were to produce an epoch-making intellectual and anthropological revolution.
Galileo's first use of the telescope was indeed an event that deeply changed the world, leading to the affirmation of modern science and of a new rational anthropology.
These celebrations are an opportunity to gain a deeper insight into the role of astronomy in enriching all human cultures and will arouse strong interest and encourage specific cultural events and activities all over the world.
||400th anniversary of the birth of Evangelista Torricelli, scientist (1608-1647) (2008)
Italian physicist and mathematician who invented the barometer and whose work in geometry aided in the eventual development of integral calculus. Inspired by Galileo's writings, he wrote a treatise on mechanics, De Motu (Concerning Movement), which impressed Galileo. In 1641 Torricelli was invited to Florence, where he served the elderly astronomer as secretary during the last three months of Galileo's life. Torricelli was then appointed to succeed him as professor of mathematics at the Florentine Academy. Two years later, pursuing a suggestion by Galileo, Torricelli became the first man to create a sustained vacuum.
||100th anniversary of the birth of Cesare Pavese, writer (1908-1950) (2008)
Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator, Cesare Pavese (1908-1950) is considered to be a major literary figure in post-war Italy. He brought American influence to Italian literature through his translations. His writings which dealt with social struggles revealed his sympathy for the oppressed. A recurrent theme in his novels is the search of urban man, who is caught in continually changing situations, for permanence and stability.
||500th anniversary of the birth of Andrea Palladio, architect (1508-1580) (2008)
Andrea Palladio is widely considered the most influential person in the history of Western architecture. He was born Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua and his talents were recognised in his early thirties by Count Gian Giorgio Trissino, who later gave him the name Palladio, an allusion to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athena. Palladian style is named after him; a style which adhered to classical Roman principles, similarly to styles of the Early and High Renaissance, when classical revivalism was at its peak.
Palladio designed many churches, villas, and palaces, especially in Venice, Vicenza and the surrounding area. The outstanding universal value of his work was recognized with the inscription of the “City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto” (Italy) on the World Heritage list.
400th anniversary of the first performance of Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi (1607) (2007)italy_monteverdi.jpg
Claudio Monteverdi was a brilliant innovator and madrigalist who brought music into a new era, one of more daring harmony and greater emotional impact than had been fashionable in previous periods. Orfeo, Monteverdi’s Orpheus and Euridice-inspired first opera, premiered in 1607, is a remarkable opera that . combines the most avant-garde elements of music used in Monteverdi’s time – monody, bits of madrigal writing, and innovative use of the instruments. Monteverdi enlarged the orchestra and became one of the first composers to increase its dramatic range by having the strings use tremolo and pizzicato. UNESCO’s association with this anniversary is the ultimate recognition of the value of this daring and innovative musician whose musical works represent a treasure of the world’s cultural heritage.
||300th anniversary of the birth of Carlo Goldoni, playwright (1707-1793) (2007)
Dramatist, great reformer of Italian comedy, the importance of Goldoni lies in having regularized the drama of his country, and freed it from the conventionality of the Commedia dell’ Arte, which was the predominant style on the Italian stage at that time. Goldoni broke from that tradition, and wrote contemporary comedies of manners with realistic characters, and completely composed their dialogues without any actors’ improvisation. Although Goldoni admired Molière and often tried to emulate if not imitate him, his plays are gentler and more optimistic in tone. He relates in considerable length in his Memoirs the state of Italian comedy when he began writing, and his works are a lasting monument to the changes, which he brought on the scene.
||100th anniversary of the birth of Luchino Visconti, cinematographer (1906-1976) (2006)
Luchino Visconti is one of the primary forces of Italian cinema. His works had a considerable impact on world cinema. Aristocrat of origin, Visconti is also the master of both harsh realism and sublime melodrama. A leading light of the neo-realist movement in the 1940s, he also acquired a reputation as an innovative theatre and opera director. With Senso in 1954, a real masterpiece in Stendhal’s scenario and tone styles, he has proposed a new lecture of the Italian Risorgimento. He mixed then contemporary subjects – as in “Rocco and His Brothers” (1960) – with a meditation on the past and on a world, which is lost but left a deep mark on the present, like in “The Leopard” (1963, adapted from Tomasi di Lampedusa). Between 1969 et 1973, he has directed the project of Germanic trilogy - “The damned” (1969), “Death in Venice” (1970), “Ludwig”(1973), which constitutes its genuine artistic testament. In all his films, visual splendour is combined with meticulous realism and deep historical and psychological insight.
700th anniversary of the birth of Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (2004)
A poet and humanist, Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) was crowned, during his lifetime, as the “poet of poets” in France and Italy. His use of language formed the basis of the language of poetry in Italy until the end of the nineteenth century. Regarded as one of the fathers of Italian literature, he made an undisputed contribution to universal literature while also contributing notably to humanism and, through his own experience, providing an idea of the human condition in which people may develop their own spiritual qualities through asceticism.
600th anniversary of the birth of Leon Battista Alberti (2004)
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is one of the most innovative architects of the early Renaissance period; he was also responsible for laying down the theoretical foundations of the Renaissance movement. His studies on perspective are particularly remarkable for their influence on both contemporary and later artists.
As one of the founders of the Renaissance movement, Alberti’s contribution to science, culture and the arts is invaluable, as the ideals and achievements of the Renaissance are the foundations of European modern society.
50th anniversary of the death of Enrico Fermi (2004)
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was a highly important scientist. The results of the research undertaken by the 1938 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics, in particular in the use of nuclear energy, during a controversial period of Europe’s history which forced him into exile, have ensured his standing as the embodiment of scientific rigour combined with moral integrity.
400th anniversary of the founding of the Accademia dei Lincei (2003)
The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei was founded on 17 August 1603 and is among the oldest academies of science in the world. It is renowned worldwide and its aim is to promote, coordinate, integrate and spread scientific knowledge in its highest expression, in the unity and universality of culture.
550th anniversary of the birth of Leonardo da Vinci (2002)
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanistic ideal. His “Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa” are among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance.
His famous scientific notebooks reveal a spirit of scientific inquiry and a mechanical inventiveness that were centuries ahead of his time. Leonardo da Vinci is the pride of humanity. His universal genius has maintained its power to fire the imagination.
50th anniversary of the death of Maria Montessori (2002)
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) is known as one of the world’s outstanding educators and psychologists. Her philosophy of education – meeting the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional needs of children – continues to be of paramount importance to all those who believe in the overwhelming influence of the first six years of a child’s life.
Hundredth anniversary of the birth of Enrico Fermi (2001)
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) was an eminent scientist of this century. He made leading contributions to many different areas in physics and his name is attached to many phenomena in physics ranging from condensed matter physics to nuclear physics, thermodynamics and particle physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938.
Hundredth anniversary of the birth of Salvatore Quasimodo (20 August 2001)
The poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968) contributed (alongside Montale and Ungaretti) to shaping modern Italian poetry. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
Hundredth anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi (27 January 2001)
Ever since they were first performed, the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) have remained part of the international repertory, giving him a profile unmatched by any other composer. During his distinguished career, Verdi composed some 30 operas, which were performed during his lifetime not only in major theatres in Italy and Europe, but also in New York, Havana and Buenos Aires.
Four hundredth anniversary of the death of Giordano Bruno (2000)
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was one of the leading philosophers, scientists and thinkers of his time.
Eighth centenary of the birth of Saint Francis of Assisi (1982)