Sergio Romano (born 7 July 1929) is an Italian diplomat, writer, journalist, and historian. He is a columnist for the newspaper Corriere della Sera.[1] Romano is also a former Italian
ambassador to Moscow.
Biography
Born in
Vicenza, he grew up between
Milan and
Genoa in a middle-class business family. He graduated from the liceo classico Cesare Beccaria of Milan, then began working as a journalist. In 1952, he obtained a degree in
Law at the
University of Milan, but he never finished his studies in
Political Science at the
University of Genoa before graduation.[2] He travelled to European capitals (
Paris,
London, and
Vienna) recently emerged from the war, which directed him to a diplomatic career. He joined the
Foreign Ministry in 1954, and after four years spent in Rome he was assigned to the seat in
London, where he remained until 1964. He returned to
Rome to assist in the Cabinet Minister
Saragat; when the latter was elected
President of the Republic he followed him to the
Quirinal Palace, assigned to the General Secretariat of the Presidency.
From 1968 to 1977, he was in Paris and, after being general manager of cultural relations and
Ambassador to NATO (1983–85), he concluded his diplomatic career in
Moscow, in the then
Soviet Union. He talks about this experience in the book Memoirs of a Conservative (2002), concise portrait of the bureaucratic class and Italian diplomacy (and not only) in the era of the
Cold War.
In 1993, he won the "Pisa National Literary Prize" in the non-fiction section. In 2010, he won the prize "È giornalismo",[5] when he affirmed that he had been ambassador for years without having a bachelor's degree in Political Science but only in Law (to enter the diplomatic service in Italy is required a degree in Political Sciences or in Law or in Economics).[6] In 2010, he spoke at the 2010
Ambrosetti Forum.
1977 – Histoire de l'Italie du Risorgimento à nos jours (Editions du Seuil; ed. it. Storia d'Italia dal Risorgimento ai giorni nostri, Mondadori, 1978)
1977 – "La quarta sponda. La guerra di Libia, 1911/1912", Casa Editrice
Bompiani, 1977, p. 270
1979 – "Giuseppe Volpi. Industria e finanza tra Giolitti e Mussolini", 1979
1994 – FINIS ITALIAE – Declino e morte dell'ideologia risorgimentale – Perché gli italiani si disprezzano (All'insegna del pesce d'oro,
ISBN88-444-1283-7)
1995 – Lo scambio ineguale. Italia e Stati Uniti da Wilson a Clinton (Laterza,
ISBN88-420-4734-1)
1995 – Storia d'Italia dall'Unità ai nostri giorni
1995 – Cinquant'anni di storia mondiale. La pace e le guerre da Yalta ai giorni nostri (Longanesi,
ISBN88-304-1269-4)
1995 – I falsi protocolli. Il "complotto ebraico" dalla Russia di Nicola II ai nostri giorni (Nuova edizione con l'aggiunta di un capitolo sugli ebrei invisibili dell'Europa centrorientale), Editrice
TEA, Milano (ed. 2008:
ISBN978-88-7818-548-7)
1996 – Le Italie parallele. Perché l'Italia non riesce a diventare un paese moderno (Longanesi,
ISBN88-304-1387-9)
I took ten months of practical training in a small newspaper of Piedmont, which, however, closed. And so I had to look for another job. Later I enrolled in law school at the university. But at the same time I set to work and graduation, with only three exams missing, remained in the drawer. I close this chapter getting an honorary degree. And today, with this recognition, I also close what was left over in my journalistic activities
— Interview on Italia Oggi, 26 March 2010
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