Dear GG Community, teachers, staff, students, alumni and Strategic Board members,

it is with great sadness that I share among us the news of the passing away of Ambassador Andrea Meloni, one of our former teachers in the International Relations course.

Ambassador Meloni has left so many memories in the heart of those who had the privilege of knowing him. First and foremost the students, who sat in his classes, benefiting tremendously from his knowledge, international experience, high moral standards, attention to questions and ability to answer them with focus and openness.

He loved GG students. He would call us regularly, especially around the end of classes and before the thesis debates, to acknowledge the happiness of teaching in front of a class of entusiastic students and of reading brilliant final works of sharp and motivated soon to be laureates. He was happy every year to teach again, not knowing that we were the happier ones: "the opportunity to teach still really excites me and I’m receiving a large number of requests to serve as a thesis advisor" he wrote to us when his health conditions were starting to weaken his body, but not his mind. Coming back from an entusiastic group session in class he would say: "from what I saw today—the first day dedicated to case studies—the students gave it their all. The Afghanistan Group did a truly splendid job; their research, analysis, and synthesis were admirable. I’m convinced that the other five groups will be just as strong".

We owe him a lot. He has shaped GG values during classes, understanding fully what we at GG are striving to be, always polite and respectful of everyone.

When it became impossible for him to be in class, we would keep in touch regularly, and he wanted to know, to be updated, on the growth of the program, who were the new students, what new challenges were we facing.

We were blessed to find in Ambassador Fondi the same love for students, the same duty of respect, the same desire to transmit the tools for growth and learning that Ambassador Meloni brought to all of us, and of that too he was happy.

We will miss him very much and are grateful to have crossed our paths with him.