The face of Italy in Tenerife says goodbye as honorary consul of his country. Silvio Pelizzolo leaves office after almost two decades of focused work, according to his own assessment, on “helping to solve problems”. Pelizzolo celebrates 19 years as ambassador of the transalpine nation in the province this 2022. It will be the last, despite himself, because the Santa Cruz office, located at number 10 Cruz Verde Street, will be closed, if someone does not remedy it, to centralize in the consular office of Arona all the procedures of the large Italian colony on the Island. A career civil servant –Gianluca Cappelli– will replace him. If it is possible to replace someone with such a profile who has managed to integrate into Tenerife society.
There is a tone of certain sadness in the former consul when he receives this newspaper on his last day, last Thursday. In the morning, he prepares the transfer paperwork and in the afternoon attends the event that closes a long stage: the Tribute to the Memory of the Holocaust in the Parliament of the Canary Islands. He acknowledges that the news has caused him an unexpected “surprise”. He will continue in Tenerife, his home since 1992, and where it is his home because he maintains his activity as a representative of the Italian Chamber of Commerce. But it won’t be the same. Silvio wants to send a message of “thank you” to Tenerife society. He also remembers all the countrymen who have helped him in his task. And there have been many.
When Silvio arrived on the Island in 2004, the Italian colony was made up of some 2,000 people. Today there are more than 30,000, with a large majority established in the south. This 58-year-old businessman from Milan considers that what he has done is summed up in going out of his way to “help his compatriots.”
The consulate is based in Silvio’s own house. Just a small shield on the door reminds us of the condition of the building. “We also had the flag,” he says, “but it had to be removed” because it posed a risk when the tram passed nearby. Thousands of Italians have passed through there over the years “to solve problems”. Procedures that Silvio has resolved in this time. The papers, from passports to identity cards or birth, marriage and death certificates.
5,000 returnees
Pelizzolo values with special pride the development of the repatriation flights of compatriots who were on vacation on the Island during the pandemic. There were a total of 5,000 in 31 flights thanks to the Pelizzolo system. He remembers it: “What we did was gather the necessary number of people, including those from the eastern islands, to fill the charters, contact the companies and make the transfers to the airports of Milan and Rome.” He considers that “everything went very well and we even gave a good image of Tenerife because of how the operation unfolded.”
Silvio indicates that his best memory has been “being able to solve problems and receive thanks”. The worst, no doubt, “the collapse of the Los Cristianos building in which two Italians died.”
The balance of this 58-year-old Milanese businessman is “very positive” because, he points out, “I have known Tenerife society and contributed my grain of sand when it comes to helping Italians and non-Italians.” He sums it up: “This is a fragmented territory and people ask me for solutions, not bureaucracy. That is why we make it easy for people to travel back to Italy with the resolution of the paperwork. That’s my way of acting.” With proximity to people and authorities.
Silvio has never charged anything for carrying out a task without a schedule. From his pocket he pays office and secretary. He considers himself “a good manager for forming a good team.” He gets emotional remembering “my secretary Rosa Anna Ruggiero.” Born in Caracas and Italian-Venezuelan, she worked at the Consulate for the last thirteen years until she died of Covid-19 on August 17, 2021. Silvio adds: “Many of those who knock on the door still ask for her.”
A platform has emerged to prevent the closure of the consulate in the capital and even the Mayor Bermudez has approached the Italian authorities. Because Silvio Pelizzolo has contributed with his work to the promotion of the Island, its economic progress or the development of its port. From mediating so that a filming had Tenerife as a stage to coordinating the service to ships that were anchored. A silent task to highlight now, when the face of Italy on the Island says goodbye.
An intense, supportive and silent work
There are many examples of a job well done in Pelizzolo’s career, even if he does not disclose them. Like when he managed to treat a girl, the daughter of astronomers who work at Roque de los Muchachos, on La Palma, despite missing papers. He processed them and solved the problem. That’s why he felt a bit like a hero. Or more recently, by managing to house a compatriot with Covid-19, homeless in Arona after having to leave her hotel. In half an hour this getter fixed it. In his farewell he mentions the social workers of the two large hospitals. And to the professionals in the same social sphere of the town halls with whom he has maintained contact about those who remain on the street and need his help. A special memory for the mayors of Arona and Adeje. Also for Noelia García Leal, the mayor of Los Llanos de Aridane. Silvio has a family connection with La Palma and often travels to Isla Bonita. He appreciates the treatment of the Italians who have been seen with what they were wearing and without papers during the volcano crisis: “They have been treated, like all foreigners, just like the rest of the neighbors.” Pelizzolo will leave if no one fixes it, even if, for example, the United Kingdom has a diplomatic representative and an honorary consul.
