Silvia Chiave, Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles, visited the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus on Oct. 29 to meet with hospitality management students and members of the campus community to discuss her life and career, her current role as Consul General, and provide perspectives about tourism in Italy and her time as a former sommelier.

Chiave, who was born in Milan in 1975 and has lived most of her life abroad, started a diplomatic career within the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000. After three years at the Directorates-General for the Countries of Asia, Oceania, the Pacific and Antarctica, she served from 2004 and 2006 at the Italian Embassy in New Delhi, where she was in charge of economic and trade relations, along with cultural promotion.

In 2006, Chiave served as Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Italian Embassy in Luxembourg.

In 2009 she returned to Rome where she was appointed Deputy European Correspondent. In this capacity, she dealt with foreign affairs, defense and European security policy, also coordinating Italy’s participation in the European Union mission. Then she became Chief of Staff of the Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, and from 2014, has been Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission of the Italian Embassy in Tunisia where she had the chance to witness the democratic transition progress of the North African country.

Chiave took office as Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles in 2018.

Chiave is married with two children and is passionate about theater, reading and snowboarding. She is also a sommelier and paragliding pilot.