Boris Biancheri, who was elected a trustee of the Academy in 1999, died of cancer on 19 July 2011, in Rome.
In diplomatic service since 1956, Boris was Italian ambassador to Tokyo and London, and for his last foreign post to Washington, from 1991 to 1995. It was during this time that he became well known and greatly loved by the family of the American Academy in Rome. The Academy marked its 1994 centenary in Washington that spring (where in 1905 its charter had been conferred by the United States Congress). After the Rome Prize ceremony at the White House, all gathered for a memorable dinner at the Italian Ambassador’s residence, Villa Firenze, where Boris was presented with the Academy’s Centennial Medal only hours after it was conferred on President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Born the 3rd of November 1930, the son of diplomat Augusto Biancheri Chiappori and the baroness Olga Wolff von Stomerse, he was also a nephew of the renowned writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa who had married his mother’s sister Alexandra. He himself was a gifted writer, producing Accordare il mondo, a book about diplomacy, and four novels in his later years, including In Praise of Silence.
He also served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and among his positions was Director General of Political Affairs, in which capacity he was Italian negotiator of the Treaty on European Political Cooperation which was the foundation for the Maastricht Treaty. From 1995 to 1997, he was General Secretary of the Ministry.
After the diplomatic career, from 1997 onward, he was president of the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), from 1997 to 2009 president of ANSA, and President of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers. He was also a columnist for the newspaper La Stampa and a member of Italy-USA Foundation.
When it came to the Academy, he was an invaluable advisor on matters relating to the Academy’s interactions with the Italian government, especially during the period when the European Union came into its own. With his beautiful manners and friendly ways, he was an approachable presence always to new members of the Academy board and any guest from the States who was visiting Rome. He cared greatly about the relationship between Italy and the United States, and often wrote about American affairs in his column in La Stampa.
He loved writers and artists, and was very comfortable in the AAR community. His wife, Flavia Arzeni, professor of German literature at the University of Rome, is also a dear friend and supporter of the Academy.
The importance of Boris’s contributions can be seen from the outpouring of appreciations and condolences from other statesmen following his death, two of which are represented here:
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the death of retired Ambassador Boris Biancheri,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in a statement issued on the day of his death, “this is another major loss for Italian diplomacy...Biancheri was one of the most brilliant Italian diplomats of recent times. Ambassador Biancheri’s distinguished career saw him at work in some of the most important and sensitive posts for our foreign policy, including London and Washington, and in key senior management roles, including that of Secretary General of this Ministry. During that career, he honoured the diplomatic service and our country. He combined his immense cultural depth and great expertise and competence on all aspects of international affairs with a deep sense of service...The important positions that followed Ambassador Biancheri’s retirement from the diplomatic service saw him at the head of the ANSA news agency and the Institute for International Policy Studies (ISPI). In these roles, Ambassador Biancheri continued to be a lucid, authoritative and esteemed figure for the entire community of professionals and scholars devoted to promoting Italy’s role on the international stage. He maintained close and fruitful links with the service to which he devoted his life with such great passion.... We have lost a figure of great value whom we esteemed as a servant of the state, a scholar, and a man of letters.”
In a message to the family, President Giorgio Napolitano described Biancheri as a "diplomat of the highest quality" and praised him for his "extraordinary cultural literacy" and "grace...Because of the example he personified, of dedication to country and democratic institutions, his death, after a swift and difficult illness, represents a grave loss for Italy and, personally, for many of us."