Otto Lanzavecchia

On Friday news broke that four hostages had been released by al-Qaeda in Mali. Among them were two Italian missionary priests, father Pier Luigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio, who flied back to Italy that same day. Italy’s foreign minister Luigi Di Maio welcomed the pair back in Rome and hailed the news with joy on Twitter. He later thanked his…

“Views of China have grown more negative in recent years across many advanced economies, and unfavourable opinion has soared over the past year,” reads the introduction to the latest Pew poll over 14 countries of the global West. Perceptions of China has been falling for the past decade, but the trend has accelerated dramatically during the past year. This arguably…

“Nobody can save themselves alone”, and the Covid-19 pandemic has made it painfully clear. Pope Francis calls for a collective return to the value of fraternity in his latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, an 8-chapter document encompassing the most politically charged issues of our time. The title of the encyclical roughly translates to “All Brothers: on Fraternity and Social Friendship”. Essentially,…

The Five Star Movement ad the League have both been described as populist parties. The former party made it to government riding the anti-establishment wave, the latter leads the opposition through its highly identitarian, right-wing drive. Both have engaged in Euroscepticism, rejecting what they perceived to be a Franco-German elitist rule over Italy. The prowess of Italian populism was in…

The Chinese Embassy in Italy released an acrimonious statement calling on the “croaking” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “quit his show as soon as possible.” This happened on Thursday morning, following the announcements made by Mr Pompeo after his meetings on Wednesday with prime minister Giuseppe Conte and foreign minister Luigi di Maio. The Secretary of State is…

On Sunday, the US ambassador to Italy Lewis Eisenberg published an op-ed on the daily paper Il Messaggero. The op-ed hinged on the role of NATO, a 71-years-old alliance based “on our values and lifestyle” and bent on defending those from the threats which “have certainly not diminished.” The ambassador stressed that the Alliance's reinforcement remained a priority for the…

On Friday, Italy officially took the first step to enter NASA’s Artemis mission, which aims to bring humankind back on the moon by 2024 and establish a permanent base for future space exploration – including Mars. The undersecretary to the prime minister with mandate for space affairs, Riccardo Fraccaro, met virtually with NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine. The two signed a…

As the dust settled after last weekend’s regional elections in Italy, it became clear that the boisterous tactics of Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and the centre-right coalition, are losing traction. A series of choices made by the leader are being questioned by party and coalition members alike. Disputes range from the choice of candidates, to his unchanging policy…

On Thursday night, the Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte met with several ministers and heads of delegation from the governing coalition for a check-up on the development of next-generation telecoms, known as 5G. Ministers Roberto Gualtieri (economy), Stefano Patuanelli (economic development), Lorenzo Guerini (defence), Luigi di Maio (foreign affairs) and Enzo Amendola (European affairs) attended the meeting, hinting at the…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be returning to Italy in a week’s time to touch base on a series of dossiers dear to Washington. On September 29th the diplomat will be meeting with members of the Vatican to discuss religious freedoms and the Holy See’s opening to China. The day after he is due for talks with members…