Director-General's remarks at the Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Permanent Mission of Italy

Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Permanent Mission of Italy
Thursday, 29 October 2026, at 12.30 p.m.
Salle des Pas Perdus, Palais des Nations

Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to the Palais des Nations.

We are gathered today to celebrate seventy years of the Permanent Mission of Italy in Geneva. My warmest congratulations to the Government and people of Italy on this milestone occasion. And my thanks to Ambassador Vignali and the Permanent Mission of Italy for organizing this event.

Let me begin with a story. A story that starts long before the Permanent Mission of Italy existed. It is 1859. In the town of Solferino, in northern Italy. One of the bloodiest battlefields of the 19th century. A young man from Geneva, Henry Dunant, arrives and finds thousands of wounded soldiers left without help. He cannot look away. So, he writes down what he saw. His book, Le Souvenir de Solferino, travels across Europe. And a few years later, right here in Geneva, the Red Cross was born. You can see the first edition of that book, and the original treaties that gave life to the Red Cross, in the exhibition today.

From that moment, Italy and International Geneva walked side by side. In 1923, the Italian Red Cross sent the League of Nations a bold proposal: an international organization of mutual aid for people struck by calamities. Four years later, here in Geneva, that idea became a Convention, and the International Relief Union was born. It was the first multilateral response to disasters, and a forerunner of the humanitarian work we know today.

Italy’s engagement with Geneva did not stop there. In 1952, three years before joining the United Nations, Italy was already here, represented at the Economic Commission for Europe.  

And then, in 1958, the United Nations Office at Geneva receives a small card. It announced a new address for the Italian Mission: Chemin de l’Impératrice, a short walk from the Palais des Nations. You can also see it in the exhibition today. Almost seventy years later, the Mission is still at the very same address. Italy did not wait to be invited into International Geneva. It chose its place, and it has stayed.

We look forward to discovering the archival materials that come from Italy and from our UN Library & Archives Geneva.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This afternoon is not only about history. It is also about the values that carry us forward.

And here I turn to the people who pass on those values every day: our tour guides. They are the first faces of the United Nations that many visitors ever meet. Every year, they welcome thousands of people from around the world. In 12 languages, they explain how multilateral diplomacy works and why it matters for everyone. They also keep alive the heritage of the Palais des Nations: a place where history was made and is still being made.

Today, they received a very special gift. Thank you to the Cittadellarte Foundation, founded by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, for donating new uniforms for our guides. Thank you to the designer Tiziano Guardini, who created them, as well as Slow Fiber, a network of Italian textile and manufacturing partners. And thank you to our UN Geneva guides and interns, who will present them in a few moments.

Many of you know Mr. Pistoletto’s work Rebirth in the Ariana Park: 193 stones, each carrying the name of a Member State. It reminds us that we are connected, and that we share the responsibility to build a better future together. The new uniforms carry the same spirit.

So, on behalf of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and on behalf of our guides: Grazie mille!