Editor’s Note: Global Atlanta will introduce Honorary Consul Feliberto Calasipita during a virtual consular conversation with Italian Consul General Cristiano Muscello next Tuesday February 9th at 11 am. Register here.

ItalyThe new Honorary Consul of the country Georgia This week she was sworn in Miami, He officially takes over the tasks he has been preparing for more than a year.

Filiberto Calasipita He runs the Italian company for the Atlanta office Rödl and his partner, A tax and tax consulting firm that helps European firms break into the southeastern United States

Mr. Calcipita, who has declared himself a “beginner” in diplomacy, spent the Thursday at Miami Complete the orientation by preparing to operate an emergency hotline, keep a record of Italian citizens, and manage document requests. He even returned to Atlanta with a portable fingerprint reader, which gave him a passport renewal job that had never been an honorary consulate of her before.

I was born and studied Palermo Prior to obtaining a master’s degree in taxation in Milan, Mr. Calascibetta arrived in Atlanta nearly 18 years ago and spent all of them with Rödl. He had no intention of assuming a marginal role in diplomacy.

The opportunity first came in June 2019 when he was the former Honorary Consul Ryan Kurtz With a lawyer Miller & Martin PLLC, He wanted to pass the lamp. The men often worked together in their “common field”: Italian investment projects; Mr. Calascibetta seemed a natural choice.

The prestige and visibility of his company was not underestimated, but the main driving factor was the momentum that began to form within the Italian business community in Georgia, which was strongly stimulated by the Consul General. Christian Mosillo Miami.

“The momentum, timing and the meeting with Cristiano in mid-2019 was a really good meeting,” Calascipita said in a phone call from Miami airport.

Over the years, the Italian Trade Commission in Atlanta – at the end of the corridor from the downtown office in Rödl – has seen it shrink and eventually close. Even with a strong industrial presence, Italy’s vision in Georgia has lagged in comparison to other European countries, even those with much less significant economies and fewer cultural ties.

Mr. Mosilo, the Consul General, wanted to change the situation and contacted Mr. Calcipita at the same time he was pushing Chamber of Commerce of Southeast America, Italy In Miami to open a chapter in Georgia.

“There are a lot of pieces in this photo,” Calascibetta told Global Atlanta.

While business is his strength – his practice focuses on manufacturing, logistics, luxury goods, retail and other sectors – the new honorary consul said he also seeks to support the Italian expat community, using sympathy he hasn’t earned much. Travel. immigrant.“This is my second life if you like,” she said of her time in Atlanta.

It also hopes to strengthen educational and health relations with Georgia as the world aims to recover from the epidemic. Italy is among the top study abroad destinations in the state in which it is located The University of Georgia And the Kennesaw State University The campus continues Cortona And the Montepulciano, straight ahead.

Mr. Calascibetta was ready to sign an agreement between the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia division of the Italy and America Chamber last week, a meeting appropriate for his various roles.

Even before the position of honorary consul became a possibility, he traveled with the chamber in 2017 on a business mission to Italy aimed at deepening relationships with current and potential Italian investors in Gwinnett, the state’s Italian investment center.