I am enormously honored to have been invited here today, and very grateful to President Mattarella for his kind invitation to make a state visit to Italy. It is very important for the queen (Camilla), and for me, return to Italy for our first visit after the coronation. The moment is even more special for both, given that, today, our twentieth marriage anniversary also occurs. And, moreover, I hope not to be ruining Dante’s language … so much that it is no longer invited to Italy.
Above all, it is an extraordinary honor to have been invited to speak to all of you this afternoon – the first time that a British sovereign turns to the entire Italian parliament, this fundamental democratic institution. Italy is, as I hope you know, a country very dear to my heart and that of the queen – as it is for many of our compatriots.
In the last forty years I have turned eighteen official visits to the Belpaese. It was one of the greatest pleasures of my life to know this irresistible country and, from Turin to Palermo, from Verona to Naples, Florence to Trieste, I was able to learn a little more on this nation and admire it more and more. Like every old friend, I have been with you in happy and sad moments of your national life. I will never forget, for example, the visit to Venice with the Queen in 2009, where we saw the magnificently restored La Fenice Theater – or that at Amatrice in 2017, after the tragic earthquake.
Friendship United Kingdom-Italy
I am here today with a single purpose: to reaffirm the profound friendship between the United Kingdom and Italy, and promise to do everything in my power to strengthen it further over time that it will be granted to me as king.
Deep historical roots
Our bonds date back to over two thousand years ago – to those Roman visitors who came to our coasts beaten by the wind. It was precisely the Romans who gave the Britons the idea of putting the head of a king on the coins – and therefore I am particularly grateful to them … my coronation, in the abbey of Westminster, took place on the famous Cosmati floor, made in 1268 by British and Italian craftsmen – a shared foundation, really.
Another foundation in which the United Kingdom is proud to have played a role is the support that our country gave to Italian unification. When Garibaldi landed near Marsala, Sicily, in May 1860, two Royal Navy war ships were there to watch. Garibaldi was, as you know, very admired in the United Kingdom. When he visited the country in 1864 to thank the British people for the support received, a real “Garibaldimania” broke out. About half a million people noticed to greet him in London. He was even dedicated to him a biscuit – the supreme sign of British admiration! Many of the heroes of the Risorgimento – including Cavour and Mazzini – spent time in the United Kingdom.
Cultural and scientific exchanges
Through the centuries, since the Italian merchants attracted to Southampton in the fourteenth century and the bankers of northern Italy settled in what is still called Lombard Street in London, our peoples traded, inspired each other, learned from each other. From the wonders of the Renaissance to the industrial revolution, to the pioneers of science such as Guglielmo Marconi, who perfected his genius in the United Kingdom before changing the world.
Almost a third of Shakespeare’s works is set here in Italy, just as many Italian artists have drawn inspiration from the bard. And we have enormously benefited from your influence on what we wear, drink and eat. I can only hope that you will forgive us if, sometimes, we have “corrupted” your wonderful cuisine! We do it with the utmost affection …
We are therefore two peoples and two nations whose stories are deeply intertwined – also, of course, with that of our European continent. We are, after all, both European countries.
Shared memory
Yesterday I laid a crown to the unknown soldier. On marble are engraved words that recall the British forces that fought alongside the Italian ones in the First World War. In a few weeks we will remember the eightieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. We will remember the horrendous price of the war – and the precious gift of peace. In Anzio and Montecassino last year, and in Sicily the previous year, we honored the British soldiers and allies who gave life for the liberation of this country eighty years ago – including over 45,000 from the nations of the Commonwealth, and almost 30,000 from the United Kingdom.
My grandfather, King Giorgio VI, visited the British troops and allied in July and August 1944, staying at a headquarters near Arezzo. Tomorrow, in Ravenna, as king of the United Kingdom and Canada, I will have the great honor of commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the liberation of that province, together with President Mattarella, in which the British and Canadian forces played a fundamental role. And, as head of the Commonwealth, it will be for me a particular privilege to remember the indispensable contribution of many soldiers of the Commonwealth, as well as other allied nations.
And we also remember the terrible suffering of the Italian civilian population – as well as the heroism of the Resistance, including Paola Del Din, trained by the Special Operations Executive and launched with the parachute to perform its mission in support of the allies precisely eighty years ago, on this same day. I know that today we all think of Paola, today centenary – and we pay homage to her courage. Also allow me to express our profound gratitude to the many hundreds of brave Italian civilians who have given refuge to British and allies soldiers, thus risking their lives.
Current partnership
Today, unfortunately, the echoes of those times – that we had hoped with fervor they now belonged to history – resonate once again on our continent. The new generations can now see every day, through their smartphones and tablets, that peace can never be taken for granted. The United Kingdom and Italy today are united in the defense of the democratic values we share. Our countries were both alongside Ukraine in the moment of need – welcoming thousands of Ukrainians looking for a refuge. Our armed forces operate side by side in the context of NATO. We are immensely grateful for the role that Italy plays in hosting fundamental bases of the alliance and in guiding numerous operations abroad.
In a few weeks, the Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group, led by the HMS launder Prince of Waleswill lead joint exercises with the Italian armed forces in the Mediterranean – a powerful symbol of our cooperation. It is also our joint project to build the next new generation hunt through the Global Combat Air Program – Together with Japan. This program will generate thousands of jobs in our countries and testifies to the mutual trust that unites us. We also collaborate strictly in the G7 – as we did during the Italian presidency last year.
Climate, biodiversity and inspiration from Virgil
Just as we are united in the defense of our values, we are also in the defense of our planet. From drought in Sicily to floods in the Somerset, both of our countries are already experimenting with the increasingly devastating effects of climate change. The last time I spoke in this parliament building was on the occasion of a special meeting dedicated to climate change – I almost can’t believe that sixteen years have passed. So I hope you will forgive me if I say that the warnings that I launched then on the urgency of the climatic challenge are sadly realizing … extreme storms … countless species … they risk extinction …
It is at stake a lot. Italy’s natural heritage is full of extraordinary wonders. Italy, in fact, continues to be the country with the greatest number of animal species in Europe … perhaps the greatest poet in Rome, Virgil, including deep respect due to nature. It could be said that it was the father of sustainable agriculture, a cause that I have supported for my whole life. In Georgics He spoke of the importance of respecting the natural cycles of the earth, of the essential role of the pollination of bees, soil conservation and even the value of compost and organic matter! As for example in this passage: “As long as you do not drag you to saturate the arid soils with fat manure. Thus even by changing the culture the fields rest; and in the meantime, although inarate, the earth will give you its fruit”.
The golden thread
Ladies and gentlemen, at the center of all that I have described there is a common denominator, a golden thread, our most precious resource – our people. It is our citizens, and in particular our young people, to add, toasted after piece, to the complex mosaic that constitutes the relationship between our countries. Most of this is thanks to the over 450,000 Italians who have chosen to live in the United Kingdom – as well as tens of thousands of British citizens who reside in Italy. We are extremely proud of the fact that London is the city with the highest number of Italians residing abroad.
Our economic ties are in full flowering – from green energy to life sciences, from airospace to services. The United Kingdom is the fifth major investor in Italy and, last year, Italy was the sixth major country for the number of direct foreign investment projects in the United Kingdom. Our cultures continue to have a deep impact on each other. Tomorrow, I await enthusiasm to see him in Ravenna, where Byron is remembered with affection alongside Dante, and to admire the wonderful Byzantine mosaics. Where, two hundred years ago, we sent poets, today we delight ourselves with the music of the other – whether it is the Italian work at the Royal Opera House or Ed Sheeran at the Olympic stadium.
Ladies and gentlemen, Italy will always be in my heart. Just as my beloved mother (Queen Elisabetta II) never forgot the wonderful twenty -fifth birthday spent in Tivoli in 1951 – nor her visit to Capaci many years later, in 1992, when it paid homage, a few days after her assassination, to your legendary anti -mafia magistrate, Giovanni Falcone.
Ladies and gentlemen, our two countries are located at the ends of the European continent. Ours is a set of islands swept by the wind, your a peninsula kissed by the sun. Different in many respects. But I believe that, over the years, we have discovered that these differences are completed quite well. So it was in past centuries. And it is, with even more strength, today.
That this is the spirit with which our two nations come together to face the future. Confident that whatever the challenges and uncertainties that we inevitably face as nations, in our continent and beyond, now and in the future, we can overcome them together, and we will do it together. And when we do it, we can say, with Dante: ‘And therefore we went out … to see the stars again’.
