[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 23, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1534-E1535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO MINISTER LUCA FERRARI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 23, 2009

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute 
to one of

[[Page E1535]]

the finest diplomats that both of us have come to know, Mr. Luca 
Ferrari, the Minister Counselor for Public and Legislative Affairs at 
the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. Minister Ferrari, who has been at 
the Italian Embassy here in Washington since October 8, 2005, is also 
the Official Spokesman at the Embassy as well. It has been recently 
announced that Minister Ferrari will leave Washington later this summer 
to become the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Italy in 
Madrid, Spain.
  Minister Ferrari, whose father was a career diplomat, was born in 
Rome and lived all over the world while growing up. As a result, he can 
speak five languages fluently. He received a degree in political 
science from the University of Rome in 1984. He joined the Italian 
Diplomatic Service in 1986 and served in a number of positions in Rome, 
including Executive Assistant to the Foreign Minister and Special 
Assistant in the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs. In 1991, he was sent to Moscow where, as First 
Secretary, he held the position of Head of the Ambassador's Secretariat 
and Chief of the Consular Section until 1995. Then he began his first 
assignment in Washington, where he was Counselor and Chief of Staff of 
the Ambassador of Italy to the United States until 1999. After 
returning to Rome, he served as the Director for Middle Eastern Affairs 
of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs until his return to 
Washington in 2005.
  Given the enormous amount of diplomatic and consular activity between 
the United States and our critical NATO ally Italy over the years, 
Washington, D.C. is one of the most challenging posts for Italian 
diplomats. I think that you will agree with my belief that Minister 
Ferrari has performed superbly both as a diplomat and as a friend to 
both of us. Whether it has been his tireless efforts on your historic 
trip to Italy as the highest ranking Italian-American official, his 
facilitation of the recent visit of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to 
Washington, and the numerous visits of other high-level officials in 
recent years, his work to provide relief in the wake of the devastating 
earthquake in Abruzzo, his preparations for the upcoming July G-8 
Summit in L'Aquila, or the energy he brought to the numerous other 
projects to which he was assigned; I think that you will agree with me 
that Luca has set an example of what it means to be a model diplomat. 
Many of our colleagues are aware of the historic role that the model of 
Italian diplomacy has played in the creation of the current worldwide 
diplomatic system and international law. We can easily see how Luca 
fits into the fine tradition of envoys that Italy has sent to other 
nations down through the ages.
  On a personal level, Madam Speaker, Luca has been a true friend to 
both of us, as well as to your husband Paul and to my wife Leslie. As 
you have on so many occasions, Luca travelled to Hartford to 
participate in my annual charity Bocce Tournament, which Leslie and I 
host at our home to raise money for the St. Patrick/St. Anthony Church 
in Hartford and the East Hartford Interfaith Ministries. Although he 
has yet to join you in the elite group of Italian Celebrity Night 
trophy winners, I am sure that, with a little more practice, he will be 
awarded that honor at some future tournament.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to conclude by urging all of our 
colleagues to join us in saluting Minister Luca Ferrari for all he has 
done to further relations between our two countries and to wish him, 
his wife Mariachiara Pastore Ferrari, and their 13 year-old son 
Alessandro Ferrari all the best as they begin their new duties in 
Spain.

                          ____________________