Egidio Ortona was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

 whose career spanned the years 1931 to 1975. He was Italian Ambassador to the United Nations

Italian Ambassador to the United Nations

Permanent Representatives of Italy to the United Nations from October 1, 1947...

 (1958–1961) and Ambassador to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (1967–1975).

Life

Egidio Ortona was born in Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato

Casale Monferrato, population 36,058, is a town and comune in the Piedmont region of north-west Italy, part of the province of Alessandria. It is situated about 60 km east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrato hills. Beyond the river lies the...

 on 16 September 1910. He graduated in law at the University of Turin

University of Turin

The University of Turin is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy...

 in 1931 and the following year entered the Italian diplomatic service. He worked first in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 and then in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, where he married.

In 1937 he was posted to the Italian embassy in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where he worked for the ambassadors Dino Grandi

Dino Grandi

Dino Grandi , Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament.- Early life :...

 and Giuseppe Bastianini

Giuseppe Bastianini

Giuseppe Bastianini was an Italian politician and diplomat. Initially associated with the hard-line elements of the fascist movements he later became a member of the dissident tendency....

. From 1940 to 1943 Ortona worked in the latter’s offices in Zadar

Zadar

Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...

, where Bastianini was appointed governor, and in Rome where Bastianini was undersecretary for foreign affairs under Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....

. Ortona’s diaries from this period, which he published as Diplomazia di guerra. Diari 1937-1943, cover these years when he was able to observe at close hand the collapse of Italy’s diplomatic relations with London, its subsequent entry into World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as an ally of Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

, and the fall of Mussolini in 1943.

In November 1944 he was appointed to a delegation seeking economic assistance from the United States for the post-war reconstruction of Italy. He remained in Washington at the Italian Embassy until, in 1958, he was appointed as Italy’s Ambassador to the United Nations, remaining in the job for a little over two years, during which period Italy was a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

Ortona returned to Italy in 1961 becoming Director General of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then Secretary General of the Ministry itself.

In 1967 Ortona was appointed Italian ambassador in Washington, a post which he held for the next eight years.

In 1975 Ortona, aged 65, retired from the diplomatic service. He took on posts as president of Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

’s Italian businesses, of Aeritalia

Aeritalia

Aeritalia was an aerospace engineering corporation based in Italy, originally Fiat Aviazione before merging with Aerfer, and now part of Alenia Aeronautica....

 and of Confitarma (Confederazione italiana armatori). He also became president of the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (Institute for International Policy Studies) and published several volumes of his diaries which together cover the years 1937–1975.

Egidio Ortona died in Rome on 10 January 1996 at the age of 85. He was buried in Casale Monferrato where, on 16 March 2007 , the public gardens of the Piazza Martiri della Libertà near the house where he was born were officially dedicated to him.

Works

• Diplomazia di guerra – Diari 1937-1943, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1993.
• Anni d’America - La ricostruzione 1944-1951, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1984.
• Anni d’America – La diplomazia 1953-1961, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1986.
• Gli anni della Farnesina. Pagine del diario 1961-1967, Milan: Spai, 1998.
• Anni d’America – La cooperazione 1967-1975, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1989.