Draft:Andrea Angeli

Andrea Angeli (born 6 December 1956 in Macerata, Italy; died 2 September 2026) was an Italian United Nations official, spokesperson, and author known for over three decades of service in international peacekeeping and diplomatic missions on behalf of the United Nations, the European Union, the OSCE, and NATO.

Early life and education

Angeli was born in Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy. He graduated in law from the University of Macerata in 1980, and later earned a degree in political science from the same university in 1982.

Career

Angeli spent over 30 years working as a civilian official and spokesperson attached to international peacekeeping missions. His postings included Chile during the aftermath of the Pinochet regime, Namibia, Cambodia, and East Timor. He spent 14 years working in the region of the former Yugoslavia, including three years in besieged Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, where he helped evacuate Rosaria Bartoletti, the last remaining Italian civilian in the city. In the winter of 1993, at the request of the Italian Embassy, Angeli made his way through devastated neighborhoods and sniper-exposed passages to locate her, carrying an envelope of emergency funds from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; he found her living in a cellar. He later described the effort as "difficult, but possible thanks to tenacity and the help of the UN High Commissioner." He later served in Kosovo, including during the outbreak of COVID-19. In Iraq, as spokesperson for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Angeli was the first to report news of the 12 November 2003 bombing of the Carabinieri "Maestrale" base in Nassiriya, in which 19 Italians were killed. He concluded his career serving as Political Advisor to NATO's mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. From 2012 to 2014, Angeli served as principal assistant and spokesperson to Deputy Foreign Minister Staffan De Mistura at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during which time he was closely involved in the Italian government's handling of the "marò" case, the diplomatic dispute over two Italian marines detained in India following the Enrica Lexie incident. He later wrote about the episode at length in his book Kabul-Roma. Andata e ritorno via Delhi. Angeli was also a registered journalist, enrolled with the Ordine dei Giornalisti del Lazio (Order of Journalists of Lazio) since September 1988. He also described how, in Kosovo, the mission he served under provided significant protection to Orthodox communities and their monasteries, which had been frequent targets during the conflict. The Visoki Dečani Monastery in Kosovo, whose "Amici di Dečani" association Angeli had long belonged to, credited him with providing quiet diplomatic support toward securing formal recognition of the monastery's land holdings, and with contributing to the dialogue that led to a 2020 agreement rerouting a disputed road outside the monastery's protective zone while preserving local access within it. He later described this experience in his book L'assedio invisibile. Although he had formally retired, Angeli was recalled to service by the UN in 2018 for a further assignment in the Balkans.

Honors and awards

• International Saint Thomas the Apostle Award (1996), for being the first Italian UN official to serve in besieged Sarajevo
• Special Antonio Russo Prize (2009)
• Special mention, Lombardy Peace Prize (2010)
• Commendatore of the Order of the Star of Solidarity of Italy
• Honorary citizenship, San Pietro Infine
• Inducted into the Garden of the Righteous Worldwide, Milan (2019)
• Graduate of the Year, University of Macerata (2013)
• Literary Prize of the Italian Ambassadors to the Holy See (2025), for a book on faith

Bibliography

• Professione peacekeeper. Da Sarajevo a Nassiriyah, storie in prima linea (Rubbettino, 2005)
• Senza pace. Da Nassiriyah a Kabul, storie in prima linea (Rubbettino, 2011)
• Kabul-Roma. Andata e ritorno (via Delhi) (Rubbettino, 2016)
• L'assedio invisibile. Diario di una missione di pace molto particolare (Rubbettino, 2021)
• Fede, ultima speranza. Storie di religiosi in aree di conflitto (Rubbettino, 2025)

Personal life

Angeli never married and had no children. In his later years, he divided his time between Macerata, Rome, and New York. He was survived by his sister, Teresa, his brother-in-law, Marco, and his niece and nephew, Ludovica and Lorenzo.

Angeli was devoted to the Black Madonna of Loreto, crediting a blessing he received during a pilgrimage to the Loreto shrine with his decision to continue his mission to Sarajevo during the Bosnian War rather than leave the UN early in his career.

Colleagues recalled that Angeli would wear a bulletproof vest in the field while keeping a necktie folded in his pocket in case the occasion called for it, an image the journalist Toni Capuozzo described as emblematic of "a gentleman of peace in places of war."

Death

Angeli was found dead in his home in Macerata on 2 September 2026, at age 69.

His funeral was held on 5 September 2026 at the Church of Santa Croce in Macerata, attended by more than 200 people, including former Chamber of Deputies president Laura Boldrini, Macerata mayor Sandro Parcaroli, and University of Macerata rector John McCourt. The Mass was celebrated by military chaplain Padre Mariano Asunis, whom Angeli had personally asked, months earlier, to lead his funeral service. In his homily, Asunis said of Angeli that "peace was not a destination, but a way of inhabiting the world."