SARI GILBERT

 A writer and journalist specializing in Italian, European and international affairs, Sari Gilbert, an American citizen who resides in Italy, has the experience and ability to produce various kinds of written work – reports, articles, case studies, essays, conference and symposium reportage  that blend style and substance into thoughtful, engaging, well-crafted products. She has lived and worked in Italy as a foreign and local reporter for over 30 years and is those well equipped to delivers evaluations that are rigorous, timely,  engaging and useful.

As will be seen below, Gilbert has extensive experience in print and broadcast journalism. Strong international background both in academic studies and as a foreign correspondent, first, and then as a local reporter for a major Italian daily, all of which have led to a thorough grasp of social, economic, and political trends as well as in public policy  and diplomatic issues regarding Europe and North America.  A demonstrated record of achievement in making complex subjects understandable to the public. Some of those subjects include:

• Italian political parties and politics
• European diplomatic relations
• Italian social dynamics and developments
• Immigration policy in Italy/Europe
• International organizations and foreign policy
• U.S.-European relations

 Gilbert is also the creator and author of the Italy blog, www.stranitalia.com.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (from most recent)

U.N. FOOD AND  AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

May-June 2008. Accreditations Supervisor and press coverage analyst for the High Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy)

September-December 2009 Accreditations supervisor, writer and press coverage analyst for the World Summit on Food Security.

 November 2010-April 2011 Information officer for the FAO press office

 Various other writing and editing jobs: brochures, fact sheets, briefs, documents for the following divisions: Communications, Fisheries,  Social and Gender, and Near East Regional Conference.

 IL SOLE 24 ORE       1993-2007

 Feature writer and reporter for Il Sole 24 Ore 

• Covered the foundation and subsequent growth of new Italian political forces such as Forza Italia and the Lega Nord, reported on significant political issues such as public financing of Italian political parties, and foreign immigration

• Covered local and regional elections throughout Italia in cities as varied as Rome, Milan, Turin, Novara, Verona, Palermo, Catania, Campobasso, Bari, Brindisi, Ancona, Pescara,

• Wrote in-depth features about major Italian social and economic trends including immigration, the declining birth rate, and local experiments in home health care. Followed US-European relations in specific areas.

 Web-site  content manager for Il Sole 24 Ore (2000-2002)

• Contributed to the original design and content distribution of the English-language website of Il Sole 24 Ore (discontinued in Spring, 2002)
• Managed a team of 10 translators for late-night translation of Il Sole pieces for web use.
• Feature writer, photo editor and manager for same website.

 Columnist and Feature Writer for Il Sole 24 Ore (2003-2006)

• Creator and writer of the column known as “Visitors”

• Creator and writer of the column known as “Stranitalia”

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER’S GUIDE to ROME   (2000)

Co-author, and principal writer, of the National Geographic Travellers’ Guide of Rome, revised in 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2013.

FEATURE WRITER AND REPORTER,  L’INDIPENDENTE     1991-1993

 Feature writer and reporter for the Anglo-Saxon style Italian daily founded in 1991 by Riccardo Franco Levi, but which subsequently changed style, publisher and political orientaqtion.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, PRINT AND BROADCAST, ROME       1972-1991

 As a foreign correspondent, travelled throughout Italy to cover politics, elections,  terrorist violence, religion and economics during a time of acute political and social change, political violence  and intense labor strife. As an accredited Vatican correspondent, followed the election and demise of three different popes, and covered the attempted assassination of John Paul the Second and his profound influence on the gradual decline of the Soviet Union.

• Assistant and cub reporter for New York Times Rome correspondent, Paul Hoffman (1972-1973)

• Accredited foreign correspondent for foreign newpapers including the Toronto Star, Chicago Sun-Times, Newsweek (1973-1978), the Washington Post (1975-1985), the Boston Globe (1985-1990).

• Accredited foreign correspondent for CBS Radio and frequent host for the Italian radio program, Prima Pagina (Rai Radio3)

• Accredited Vatican Correspondent for various publications.

• Contributor – on political, social and economic issues – to publications including Nation, Institutional Investor, Travel and Leisure, Signature, TV Guide, Nation, Penthouse, Financial Times, Lombard (Milano), Secolo XIX, Messaggero, II Giornale, Macleans (Canada), Newsday, Connoisseur, Attenzione, Business. 

Also reported on political developments in Greece for the Boston Globe (1985-1989). For the International Herald Tribune, organized, oversaw and was principal writer for eight-page supplements on Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Italy and the Mediterranean. 

COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FELLOW 1972-1973

Research project on Italian non-compliance with EEC directives

OTHER JOBS

• Research assistant l’Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome (1968-1969)

• Production Assistant RAI Corporation, New York 1966-1967

• Assistant Economic Federal Reserve Bank of New York (may-September 1965)

• Research assistant the Washington Center for Foreign Policy Studies (SAIS)

EDUCATION

• 1969 Ph.D in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with a thesis on “Italy and the Nato Alliance: A Case Study in Decision-Making”.

• 1965 M.A.       in International Relations from The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Relations. First year spent at the Bologna Center in Bologna, Italy.

• 1963 B.A. in Political Science from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Graduated Magna Cum Laude. Phi Beta Kappa 1964.

 LANGUAGES:  Fluent Italian and French