By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Tuesday 24th May 2022) — The diplomatic status of St. Kitts-Nevis’ Honorary Consul to the Republic of Italy Ernest Amory has received Knight of the Order of Star of Italy recognition. On Thursday 19th May 2022, at Palms Court Gardens in Basseterre, The Italian Honorary Vice-Consulate in St. Kitts and Nevis hosted a cocktail reception to welcome the newly-appointed Ambassador of Italy His Excellency Dr. Fabrizio Nicoletti and Mrs. Nicoletti to the Federation, during which an investiture ceremony was conducted and Amory was granted knighthood.
Ambassador Nicoletti explained why St. Kitts-Nevis was his first stop on his Caribbean tour: “We have excellent relations with St. Kitts but I must admit that in the last twenty years he helped and facilitated this excellent relation because he is our honorary consul here. He did it in such a remarkable way that the Italian President of the Republic decided to grant him Knighthood, and therefore I felt it a duty and an honour to decide, as my first visit out of Panama, to come here in honour of our consul who since 2002 is helping the relations between the two countries.”
Amory reflected on his years of service: “Over the past years, I’ve had the distinct pleasure — not a responsibility but an honour — to serve the Republic of Italy. I don’t think service should ever be a responsibility; it should be an honour, it should be a privilege. As an honorary consul, it’s not a paid position; you do it as an honour to serve. And I’ve been serving all my life. There have been many challenges in my position and there have been many successes which I am so happy to report, with all of the things that have happened over the years with Italy providing assistance to St. Kitts, and St. Kitts giving service to Italy.” Notably, Amory is a well-known business operator and is the owner of Amory Enterprises, which includes American Bakery on Victoria Road in Basseterre and also Palms Court Gardens.