New Italian ambassador to Bulgaria named
Bulgarian media reports have identified career diplomat Marco Conticelli as the new Italian ambassador in Sofia, succeeding Stefano Benazzo.
Conticelli (51) graduated from the University of Florence in 1985 and joined Italy’s foreign ministry in 1987, initially working at the ministry’s telecommunications and information coding unit and later in the personnel and administration directorate-general. In 1989, he became second secretary in charge of commercial affairs at the Italian embassy in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum and in 1991 he was appointed Italy’s consul in Seville, Spain.
He returned to Rome, to a post at the directorate-general for political affairs, before in 1998 becoming commercial counsellor at the embassy in New Delhi and four years later, he became first counsellor at Italy’s permanent representation to international organisations in Geneva.
In 2006, he joined the Italian foreign ministry’s EU integration directorate-general, where since 2011 he has been co-ordinator for immigration policies in the EU.
Bulgarian media said that Conticelli’s appointment has received formal consent from the Bulgarian state.
