VZCZCXRO7613
RR RUEHFL RUEHNP
DE RUEHRO #0384 0881556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281556Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0048
INFO RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 0669
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE 2972
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN 9315
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 3121

UNCLAS ROME 000384 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINR PREL SY IT
SUBJECT:  BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: ACHILLE AMERIO, NEW 
ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA 
 
¶1.  Sensitive but unclassified; not for internet 
distribution. 
 
¶2.  (U) Italy?s new Ambassador in Damascus, Achille 
Amerio, reached post at the beginning of March, replacing 
Francesco Cerulli, who retired.  Since 2004, Amerio was 
Diplomatic Adviser to two consecutive Defense Ministers, 
Antonio Martino (center-right) and Arturo Parisi (center- 
left).  He holds the personal rank of Minister. 
 
¶3.  (U) Amerio joined the Foreign Service in 1974.  After 
an initial assignment in the MFA Personnel Bureau, he was 
transferred to Lausanne in 1976 as First Vice Consul, and 
Bucharest in 1980 as First Secretary.  In 1983, he 
returned to the MFA in the staff of the Director General 
for Political Affairs.  In 1986, he became Deputy Chief 
of Mission in Ankara and, in 1991, First Counselor for 
Migration in Paris. 
 
¶4.  (U) From 1994 to 1995, Amerio served as MFA Deputy 
Spokesman.  From 1995 to 1996, he was Special Adviser to 
the MFA Director General for Political Affairs, and from 
1996 to 1998, his Chief of Staff.  He was Deputy Chief of 
Mission in Moscow from 1998 to 2002, and Deputy Permanent 
Representative to NATO from 2002 to 2004. 
 
¶5.  (U) Amerio was born in Glasgow on November 29, 1948. 
He is married to Oretta Cagiano de Azevedo and has four 
children -- two girls and two boys.  He enjoys tennis and 
windsurfing.  He speaks English with a native 
proficiency, having spent much of his youth in Australia. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) For the past three years, Amerio has been one 
of Embassy Rome?s very best contacts, including on some 
of our most difficult issues. 
 
Spogli