Torquato Cardilli

Torquato Cardilli is an Italian diplomat. He was born in L'Aquila, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. His father, Giuseppe Cardilli, was a renowned jeweller. Cardilli graduated with two degrees from the Istituto Universitario Orientale of Naples: first, in Oriental Culture and Languages, and then subsequently a second degree in political sciences. He was inspired to pursue a diplomatic career after a history professor gifted him the book "The Laughing Diplomat" by Daniele Varè. He joined the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1967, at the age of 25. His first foreign posting was to Khartoum, Sudan, in 1969, where he was Second Secretary of the Italian Embassy. In 1972 he was appointed First Secretary to the Italian Embassy in Damascus, Syria where he was assigned to represent US interests after the rupture of diplomatic relations between the US and Syria. In October 1973, when the Yom Kippur War broke out, with Damascus under heavy bombardment from the Israeli Air Force, he escorted a convoy of Italian citizens safely across the border into Lebanon.