How did you get involved with the Order?

It started off in a fortuitous manner. I was offered to become ambassador in Bulgaria, a post which I took up in April 2005 and remained there for two years. Then in June I was made a Knight of Magistral Grace and recently I was made a Grand Officer pro Merito Melitensi.

How does one become an ambassador of the Knights?

As anything within the Order you have to prove yourself by doing things and showing in a concrete way that you are ready and able to dedicate time to your activity. The post of Ambassador of the Order is not a paid job, therefore it is carried out by those who think they have a mission to complete and are able to do it and dedicate their time.

Naturally the Grand Magistry decides to trust these roles in the hands of those who have shown or can show that they are able and willing to fulfil such duties.

How do you find Bulgaria different from Malta?

Bulgaria is predominantly Orthodox and the Order is not known as it is here. My work there was focused on making the Order better known. Besides, there are no humanitarian associations of St John in Bulgaria, therefore the ambassador must also take onto his shoulders those activities of a humanitarian and social nature which otherwise would have been carried out by the local organisations of St John.

Therefore in Sofia we have helped Catholic organisations in setting up a day hospital as well as helped a hospital in Plovdiv with the assistance of the city’s bishops.

We also organised a very successful visit of Grand Master Frà Andrew Bertie in Bulgaria.

In Malta my task is quite different. The history of Malta is so intertwined with that of the Order that I believe everyone knows perfectly what the Order is and what it has done for Malta.

The humanitarian organisations linked with the Order are abundant and very active and so that kind of work is carried out by them in coordination with me.

My role as ambassador is to take care of the relations between institutions such as the Order and the government of Malta

Does your family help you in this work?

My wife Marinella has always been supportive of such initiatives. She is also very much involved in social solidarity as she runs two organisations, both based in Milan, the city where we live. Both organisations raise funds for various causes, one of which is the purchase of equipment that can diagnose early illness in pre-natal babies.

Have you fixed any targets for your stay in Malta?

We have fixed a target to make full use of our premises in Malta to maximise the visibility of the activities of the Order.

The Knights have been here for almost 250 years and have done great things and are very visible today. We want to re-evaluate the history of the Knights in Malta through a series of activities that we would like to organise within the sphere of our embassy.

Such activities are connected with the social and historical aspects of the Order and therefore of Malta. Our vision is to do so through a series of meetings and conferences in which learned people can be invited to give talks on the history of the Order, its values and its achievements.

On the more practical side we are keen to re-evaluate both our embassy and Fort St Angelo, which is a beautiful site which deserves to be better known and visited more.

To this end, I have expressed my willingness to the Caravaggio Foundation to carry out activities such as meetings, conventions or discussions about the activities of Caravaggio in Malta both at the embassy and at St Angelo.

In this context I know that the foundation is trying to organise the so-called Impossible Exhibition, by putting up a great number of Caravaggio’s paintings in a virtual manner.

This will help to recount all that happened at the time of Caravaggio and the knights in Malta.

Have you ever been in Malta before?

Yes, I have been here before as a tourist. I must say that Malta inspires me a lot as after all I have Neapolitan origins and so have a particular feeling for the Mediterranean. In fact Malta brings back memories of my childhood and youth so I feel a certain connection with the way of life of Malta and the Maltese who, I must say, are very welcoming and affable.

What do you think of the state of the Knights’ buildings in Malta?

A lot of work has been done and I also believe that a lot of things may be improved. Take for example our embassy; it is one of my main targets to improve the premises because I firmly believe that it is important that the ambassador should physically be present in Malta for the longest possible time as this is the only way that contacts on mutual trust can be developed. I don’t think it is ideal that while the ambassador is here he has to live in a hotel.

Thus as I said before our aim is to start re-evaluating this building and St Angelo especially as the fort fits the bill elegantly for our activities of a cultural nature.

This will also lend itself to the tourism industry, in particular cultural and historic tourism, rather than tourism focused on low cost beaches.

Speaking of St Angelo, how would you describe your relations with the knights who live at the castle?

Obviously we have a very close relationship. We meet on a frequent basis, however, my role is an institutional one while their role is a spiritual one and combined with the upkeep of the premises.

The Order, upon entering St Angelo, embarked on a restructuring project, a good part of which was carried out. On the other hand, lodgings are also available for other knights who are either passing by or are stationed here.

One must remember that the two knights who live there are professed knights, one of which is the knight resident, practising the triple vow of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Therefore they are people who have voluntarily decided to renounce certain privileges of our everyday life to dedicate their spiritual existence to the Order. Thus they have sacrificed much more than other people in that they have foregone their other civil activities. For example I continue to carry out my professional occupation as a manager and entrepreneur. I believe that life has been good to me and consider that I can give back something through my involvement in the Order; the professed knights do this by taking it a step further.

What work is carried out in the world, especially in the Holy Land?

The Order is practically present in the whole world. It is always present wherever there is the need for humanitarian intervention. It has been very active during the 2004 tsunami, in Lebanon, and in Cambodia. The Order is not very keen on publicising its activities, in fact most of its activities are not widely known; it is more interested in carrying out work than letting people know about its work.

In the Holy Land it has set up an extraordinary hospital in Jerusalem. In this hospital an enormous number of people are treated and no importance is given to religion or race.

Through this hospital, the Order is showing on the ground that it believes in inter-religious dialogue, which is also advocated by the Church’s ecumenism and has succeeded in bringing together people who otherwise would have been fighting each other. This is true of the apolitical and independent nature of the Order.

How strong is the Vatican’s influence on the Order?

They are absolutely independent from each other. However, the Order was created in order to defend Christianity, which means that it has a very close relationship with the Vatican – the Grandmaster himself holds the rank of a Cardinal within the Church. Still, although there are many common points and activities, the Order is a totally apolitical, independent and lay

organisation.