Lieutenant General Gualtiero Mario DE CICCO was born in Messina (Italy) on 1st April 1961. He is presently High Commissioner for the General Commissariat for Honors to the Fallen of the Italian Ministry of Defense.
He joined the 162nd Course of the Military Academy in Modena and the School of Application in Turin from 1980 to 1984. His advanced training and formation includes, in addition to several national specialization and qualification courses as the 119th Army General Staff Course and the 119th Army General Staff Superior Course at the Scuola di Guerra (War School) in Civitavecchia, the 3rd Joint General Staff Course at the Italian Defense High Study Center, some courses abroad as the Field Artillery Advanced Staff Officer Course in Fort Sill (OK, USA), the Defense Resources Management Course in Monterey (CA, USA), the 54th Session of the “Center des Hautes Études Militaires (CHEM) (Paris, France) and the 57th Session of the Institute des Hautes Études de la Défense Nationale (IHEDN) (Paris, France).
As First Lieutenant and Captain, he held various command and staff positions in artillery units in the Armored Brigade "Centauro" and the Italian Field Artillery School in Bracciano) up to take over as Field Artillery Battalion Commander at the 1st/11th FA Regiment "Teramo" of the Mechanized Brigade “Garibaldi”. During this last assignment, he also fulfilled the role of Task Force Commander within the Multinational Brigade West in Kosovo for the NATO Operation "Joint Guardian" in two different tours of duty in 1999 and 2000.
As Colonel, he held the position of Commander of the 235th Infantry Training Regiment "Piceno" in Ascoli from 2005 to 2007 where he largely contributed to the massive training and insertion of the new recruited personnel into the Italian Army (about 6000 units).
As Brigadier General, he commanded, from 2010 to 2012, the Mechanized Brigade "Aosta" with which he took part in 2011 to UNIFIL operation in South Lebanon where he leaded Sector West Brigade including about 6000 soldiers from 8 different nationalities. Later on he performed as Deputy Commander at the Italian Army NCOs School in Viterbo from 2012 to 2014 as Deputy Commander.
As Major General, he acted as Territorial Deputy Commander of Operational Forces South HQ from 2017 to 2020 with the responsibility over all the territorial activities carried out by the Army Regional Commands in Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia.
As a Staff Officer General DE CICCO also developed a large and diversified professional background working at the:
• Army Logistics Inspectorate, holding the position of Chief Section at the General Office of the Logistics Inspector;
• Army General Staff performing as Staff Officer at the Doctrine and Regulations Office, General Planning Office and General Office of the Chief of Staff;
• Defense General Staff, holding the position of Chief Section at the General Office of the Chief of Staff;
• Cabinet of the Minister of Defense, holding the positions of Head of the 5th Office - Relations with Parliament and Head of the 1st Office - Military Personnel Affairs.
In the International professional environment, he performed as UN military observer in the UNMOGIP mission in Kashmir (India and Pakistan) in 1992 - 1993 while from 2014 to 2017 he held the position of Defense Attaché at the Embassy of Italy in Paris (France), with principal accreditation for France and secondary accreditation for Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland.
Civil Education: University Master Degree - Strategic Sciences - University of Turin.
Decorations and medals:
• Brevets for "Rescue and swimming", "Paratrooper" and "Commander of armored units";
• Graduated as "Master Warfighter" at the US Field Artillery School;
• Certificate of attendance of the Defense Resources Management Course at the US Naval Post Graduate School;
• Certificate of attendance of the Institute des Hautes Études de la Défense Nationale (IHEDN) in France;
• Certificate of attendance of the Centre des Hautes Études Militaires (CHEM) in France;
• Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic;
• Silver cross to the Merit of the Army;
• Mauritian medal for long meritorious career;
• Gold medal for long command of the Army (20 years);
• Gold cross with star for long career in the Army (40 years);
• Commemorative Cross for participating in peacekeeping operations;
• NATO commemorative medal for "Joint Guardian" operation;
• UN commemorative medal for UNMOGIP mission;
• UN commemorative medal for UNIFIL mission;
• Cross of Knight of the National Cedar Order of the Republic of Lebanon;
• Silver medal of the French National Defense;
• 1st degree multinational cooperation Medal of the Republic of Slovenia;
• Honorary citizenship of the City of Tire (Lebanon);
• Honorary citizenship of the City of Lawton (Oklahoma, USA);
• Honorary citizenship of the City of Saponara (Messina - Italy).
Languages: fluent in English and French.
Private life: married with two children.
