Ambassador Giampaolo Cantini is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s new Secretary General of Foreign Affairs.  He took up his post yesterday and will report directly to Grand Chancellor Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo in the seat of the Grand Magistry – the Order of Malta’s government – in Rome.

The new Secretary General succeeds Ambassador Stefano Ronca who has served the Order of Malta in that role since 2014 and who will continue to serve as Ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the Italian Republic.

Together with Amb. Ronca, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo personally thanked Amb. Daniele Verga and Amb. Giuseppe Morabito, who are leaving their posts as diplomatic advisers to the Grand Chancellor, for their dedication and important contribution to the consolidation of the Order of Malta’s humanitarian diplomacy.

Giampaolo Cantini

After joining the Italian diplomatic service in 1983, Ambassador Cantini worked in Ethiopia, at the Italian Mission to the United Nations in New York and at the Italian Embassy in Washington. A profound connoisseur of the Middle Eastern world, Cantini was Ambassador to Algeria, Consul General in Jerusalem and Ambassador to Egypt.

He was also Director of Italian Development Cooperation from 2013 to 2016. He left the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of 2021.