Florence’s U.S. Consulate May Close

The U.S. Consulate in Florence, located in Palazzo Canevaro Lungarno Vespucci 38 and property of the U.S. State Department since the purchase in 1947, is in danger of permanent closure.

According to Politico, a U.S. daily and news site, President Trump would like to reduce State Department expenditures by not only shutting down the Florence Consulate, but others in Europe including Lyons, Bordeaux, Rennes and Strasbourg in France and Dusseldorf, Leipzig, and Hamburg in Germany in addition to Ponta Delgada in Portugal.

Always according to Politico, President Trump would like to cut or eliminate offices that implement traditional initiatives of ‘soft power’ promoting democracy, democratic practices, human rights and scientific research, thereby saving millions of dollars.

The Consul General and the staff of Florence’s U.S. Consulate have not yet received confirmation regarding its fate.

It was not until May 15, 1819 that the Grand Duke Ferdinando III accepted Florence as a consular site of the U.S. government, and Giacomo “James” Ombrosi, would become the first official U.S. Consul General.

After its inauguration, there have been a few benchmarks, including change of location.  From 1865 to 1871, when Florence served as the capital of Italy, the U.S. Embassy was situated in Palazzo Rosselli del Turco. From the 1870s to World War II, the consulate was housed in three different buildings, all along Via Tornabuoni.

The Consulate General building on Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, also known as Palazzo Calcagnini or Canevaro, also has a notable history, having been created in the neoclassical style by the renowned architect and urban planner, Giuseppe Poggi, for Manfredi Calcagnini Estensi, a nobleman of Ferrara in 1857. It was later purchased by Count Francesco Arese and subsequently by the Canevaro family.  (rosanna cirigliano)