Vincenzo Macchi di Cellere

Vincenzo Macchi di Cellere (1866–1919) trained in law and entered the Foreign Ministry in 1889. After work in Rome, he served in Argentina, where protection of Italian emigrants became a recurring concern. Appointed to Washington in 1913, he arrived in September 1914, shortly after war began in Europe. ¹

Financing and shipping became central to his American work. In 1915 he sounded out American banks for credits to pay for supplies. After the United States entered the war, he became high commissioner as well as ambassador, bringing purchasing and transport work under his authority. He established a joint transport office in New York and represented Italy in discussions of Allied requirements. These operations depended on officials and specialists from several ministries and the Bank of Italy. ²

Macchi supported sending an Italian mission to America in 1917 but clashed with Francesco Saverio Nitti over its conduct. After Caporetto, he objected to the Italian army command’s public blame of its own troops and sought to limit the damage to Italy’s standing. He pressed Italian territorial claims while also recommending accommodation with Serbia. ¹

At the Paris peace conference he worked with American adviser David Hunter Miller on a proposed compromise for the Adriatic dispute, involving temporary League of Nations protection. It did not settle the broader disagreements. Political attacks and his quarrel with Nitti preceded his recall. He died in Washington on 20 October 1919, only days after the recall order. ¹