Italy’s new London embassy, Casa Italia, is a shining example of soft-power promotion
The newly opened Italian embassy in London makes good use of the country’s cultural prowess as a tool of diplomacy. We take a tour with its ambassador Inigo Lambertini.
When Monocle arrives at the new Italian embassy in London, we are offered coffee by the ambassador, Inigo Lambertini. Two espressos arrive; we take a sip. The coffee is very good. Not five minutes ago we were fighting our way from Victoria Station through the rain but now we seem to be in a hip Milanese bar. In fact, Casa Italia, the name given to the new embassy, would be a good one for such an establishment.
Built to showcase the country’s soft-power credentials, Casa Italia, which opened last November, brings together its embassy and trade delegation, as well as the Italian Cultural Institute. For Lambertini, its construction is of national as well as personal significance. He first visited the old embassy building in Mayfair’s Grosvenor Square as a young diplomat in 1990. “I stepped foot inside and said, ‘We need to renovate this.’” When he took up his post as the ambassador of the Italian Republic to the Court of St James’s 32 years later, he swore to move the mission to better digs.
It was a propitious time to lobby Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fund such an endeavour. In late 2022 the coronavirus pandemic was receding and in-person diplomacy was back on the agenda. The UK had also recently left the European Union, increasing London’s salience to Rome. “Embassies are more important outside the EU than in it,” says Lambertini. “When you are in the EU, you meet every month for the council of ministers.” The UK is home to 530,000 Italians, the third-largest diaspora in Europe. “And London is one of the capitals of the world,” adds the ambassador.
Embassy staff convene around a Nomos meeting table designed by Norman Foster. On the walls are works by Gianpaolo Pagni. Beneath them are terracotta votive heads from Rome’s National Etruscan Museum
Lambertini helped to persuade Rome that integrating trade, culture and diplomacy would give Italy the edge in soft-power promotion. “We are not a big power in some respects but we are when it comes to soft power,” he says. “In art, fashion, food, music and sport, we are very strong.” Inside Casa Italia, there’s no Renaissance painting or sculpture in sight. Instead, the five-storey building is filled with art and design from the 20th and 21st centuries, while all fixtures and fittings, as well as the paint on the walls, are made in Italy. “The message is that we didn’t stop at Leonardo and Tintoretto,” says Lambertini. There are bespoke carpets inspired by Carlo Scarpa’s Olivetti showroom in Venice and mosaics, made by Formafantasma, showcasing modern Italian aesthetics. The furniture includes leather Gio Ponti armchairs and a meeting table by Norman Foster for Milanese studio Tecno. All of it was put together by London-based designer Nick Vinson.
The embassy runs regular events aimed at promoting Italian soft power. When Monocle attends an opening by artist Carolina Mazzolari in February, the room is filled with the diaspora’s hip young things. It’s a reminder that Italy’s traditions of art, design, fashion, business, food and drink are more than matched by its people’s capacity to embody the dolce vita. Lambertini is the personification of this. In a few months’ time he will leave this post. Meanwhile, more important to him than the building is the admiration that his UK-based compatriots have for it. “I was at the opening of a new pizzeria in Soho and people kept coming up to me to say, ‘We love the new embassy. We are very proud.’”
Ambassador: Inigo Lambertini (term ends this year)
Number of diplomats: 10
Year formal relations began: 1861
Key bilateral issues: The large Italian diaspora in the UK, defence and industrial
In Monocle’s April issue, we profile our selection of the best foreign embassies in the world — this is just one of the establishments featured. See the rest of our favourites here.
