Damiano Beleffi, a longtime member of his country’s Foreign Service, presented his credentials as San Marino’s ambassador to the United States on July 21, 2017. Surrounded completely by Italy, San Marino has a population of about 33,250.

Born August 15, 1971, Beleffi attended the University of Genoa, where he earned a master’s degree in political science. Beginning in 1998, he was head of finance in the Ministry of Finance and Budget for San Marino.

In 2001, Beleffi moved into the diplomatic world as deputy permanent representative to the Council of Europe, which works to uphold human rights, democracy, rule of law in Europe and promote European culture. Beleffi was named ambassador to Germany in 2007. In 2008, he added the post of deputy permanent representative to the United Nations to his portfolio and in 2011 was additionally named ambassador to Canada.

Beleffi took over as chargé d’affaires at San Marino’s UN mission in May 2016, and was formally named permanent representative on July 7.

Beleffi speaks Italian, French and English. He’s married to Hiromi Matsuzaki and has two daughters.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Official Biography