From March 15 to 17, the Ambassador of Italy to Canada, Alessandro Cattaneo, carried out an official visit to the Atlantic Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The mission, as with the previous one in Nova Scotia, coincided with the passage of the Italian Navy frigate Alpino through the capital St. John’s port.
During the visit, Ambassador Cattaneo, accompanied by the Consul General of Italy in Montreal Enrico Pavone, the Commander of Nave Alpino, Frigate Captain Sara Vinci, and the Science Attaché Prof. Costanza Conti, was received by the Lieutenant Governor, Hon. Joan Marie Aylward. The discussions focused on opportunities to strengthen economic, academic, cultural, and social relations between Italy and the Canadian province.
Ambassador Cattaneo also held institutional meetings with the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Hon. Tony Wakeham, with the provincial Ministry of Energy and Mines, and with the Mayor of St. John’s, Danny Breen. The meetings explored the most promising areas of collaboration between Italy and Newfoundland, including energy, critical minerals, defense, shipbuilding, and scientific and academic relations. Energy topics were also central to a working breakfast with companies in the oil and gas sector.
The Ambassador also inaugurated the scientific conference “Past, Present, and Future of Telecommunications: The Enduring Legacy of Guglielmo Marconi”, organized at the Memorial University of Newfoundland by the Scientific Office of the Italian Embassy in Ottawa, as part of the celebrations of the 125th anniversary of Marconi’s transatlantic experiment, conducted in 1901 from Signal Hill.
The visit concluded with an official reception aboard the frigate Alpino, attended by numerous institutional representatives, Canadian senators and parliamentarians, as well as members of the provincial government, the academic, economic, social, and cultural sectors, and the local Italian-Canadian community.
