It is with great sadness that this Embassy has learned of the sudden passing away of Professor Christopher Duggan, a leading expert on Italian history and long-standing academic at the University of Reading, where he taught Italian history, politics, culture and language and served several times as Head of the Department of Italian Studies.
Professor Duggan was a brilliant historian and we are thankful for his every effort to reference, analyse and record so much of Italian history. In his commitment to enlighten the relevance of the past to the present, he devoted himself to considerable public activities as an organiser of symposia and public events, both in Italy and in the UK, including a series of lectures held at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, just last year, on Italian Unification, all of which we greatly appreciated.
As both a Director of the Centre for Modern Italian History and then as Professor of Modern History at University of Reading, he forged a lively scholarly community and promoted the UK as one of the most prominent centres for the study of Italian history.
“Professor Duggan, whom I had the good fortune to meet on several occasions since I arrived in London, contributed greatly to the wider public understanding of Italian history. This was one of the reasons for which he was most deservedly conferred the honour of Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia some years ago”, noted Ambassador Terracciano while remembering him fondly.
This Embassy wishes to express condolences to the family of Professor Duggan, to his colleagues and students who will sorely miss him.
The late Professor Duggan (second row, right) during the most recent
visit by the Italian Ambassador to the University of Reading, March 2015.
