Sergio Romano (born 7 July 1929) is an Italian diplomat, writer, journalist, and historian. He is a columnist for the newspaper Corriere della Sera. Romano is also a former Italian ambassador to Moscow.
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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. 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.
He became a commentator for a number of Italian newspapers and magazines (La Stampa, Corriere della Sera, Limes, Il Mulino), the editor of a historical series for the publisher Corbaccio. He has also taught at the University of California, Harvard University, the University of Pavia, University of Sassari and Bocconi University in Milan. He is also President of the General Prize Committee of the Balzan Foundation and a member of the Scientific Committee for the magazine Geopolitica.
In 1993, he won the "Pisa National Literary Prize" in the non-fiction section. In 2010, he won the prize "È giornalismo", 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). In 2010, he spoke at the 2010 Ambrosetti Forum.
Honours
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic 1st Class / Knight Grand Cross – 27 December 1987
Publications
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
1989 – La Russia in bilico (Il Mulino)
1991 – La politica estera italiana (1860-1985), scritto con Richard J.B. Bosworth (Il Mulino, ISBN 88-15-02979-6)
1991 – Disegno di storia d'Europa dal 1789 al 1989 (Longanesi, ISBN 88-304-1042-X)
1992 – I falsi protocolli. Il "complotto ebraico" dalla Russia di Nicola II a oggi (Corbaccio, ISBN 88-7972-018-X)
1993 – L'Italia scappata di mano (Longanesi, ISBN 88-304-1170-1)
1993 – Viaggi intorno alla Russia (La Stampa, ISBN 88-7783-063-8)
1994 – Tra due Repubbliche. L'anno di Berlusconi e le prospettive dell'Italia (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, ISBN 88-04-39713-6)
1994 – FINIS ITALIAE – Declino e morte dell'ideologia risorgimentale – Perché gli italiani si disprezzano (All'insegna del pesce d'oro, ISBN 88-444-1283-7)
1995 – Lo scambio ineguale. Italia e Stati Uniti da Wilson a Clinton (Laterza, ISBN 88-420-4734-1)
1995 – La storia sul comodino. Personaggi, viaggi, memorie (Greco e Greco, ISBN 88-7980-081-7)
