Italian Ambassador Sergio Mercuri made a surprise announcement that an Italian diplomat had been bestowed the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Diplomats, the Italian community and professionals in the cultural sector were listening to an opening speech for an exhibition when he unexpectedly told them that the honor had gone to Lucio Izzo, the Italian Cultural Institute’s director and cultural attache.

“I was very happy, honored, and of course, there is responsibility with this decoration,” Izzo told The Korea Herald.

“This means that I will have new and more duties and responsibilities,” he added.

Izzo was knighted for improving the bilateral relationship through cultural exchanges such as universities, academies and foundations and promoting Italy and its culture.

“We managed to increase the number of bilateral projects in both countries,” he said.

For several years, the embassy and its cultural wing have been running the Italian language week festival in various parts of the country.

Italian is a Romance language spoken by around 70 million people, including in Switzerland, where it is one of the four official languages, San Marino and the Vatican City.

Izzo spent countless hours organizing the year-long “Italy in Korea” festival in 2008.

In a country like Korea where Italian culture and products are highly regarded, the festival reinforced brand Italy while also introducing new cultural aspects to the relationship.

The “Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” is the highest ranking honor and most senior order of Italy.

Izzo shares the order with musicians Luciano Pavarotti, who was decorated as Commander in 1976, and Claudio Abbado, who was awarded a Knight Grand Cross in 1984.

The order is bestowed by decree of the Italian President, as head of the orders of knighthood.

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)