Egidio Ortona

Egidio Ortona trained in law and political science before entering the Foreign Ministry in 1932. Early assignments took him to Cairo, Johannesburg, and London. During the war he worked with Giuseppe Bastianini in occupied Dalmatia and, later, in Rome. On 8 September 1943, Ortona and Augusto Rosso helped communicate the Italian armistice to the German representatives. ¹

He accompanied the Italian economic mission to the United States in 1944 and stayed in Washington under Alberto Tarchiani. His work centred on reconstruction finance, American assistance, and the emerging Atlantic alliance. He later served under Manlio Brosio, represented Italy at the United Nations, and became the Foreign Ministry’s economic director and secretary general. In 1967 he returned to Washington as ambassador. ¹

At a meeting with Henry Kissinger on 19 November 1971, Ortona asked about American force levels before an Italian meeting on NATO policy and challenged rumours of a separate U.S.–Soviet reduction bargain. He linked European burden sharing to the monetary dispute and suggested that European concessions on agricultural trade might help. Kissinger agreed to consider the idea. ²

After his ambassadorship, Ortona held industrial and policy positions and published extensive diaries. The three volumes of Anni d’America record his long American experience, followed by accounts of the war years and his work at the Farnesina. ¹