site.btaJuly 25, 1879: Bulgaria and Italy Establish Diplomatic Relations

Diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Italy were established on July 25, 1879. On this date, the Italian ambassador in St Petersburg notified the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the appointment of Domenico Brunenghi as Italian Consul General in Bulgaria, after which he wrote a letter to inform the Imperial Russian Commissioner in Sofia, Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov. The Italian consulate in Sofia, which existed since the eve of the Liberation of Bulgaria from ottoman rule and was headed in these years by Vittorio Positano, was moved to Ruse.

Bulgaria opened its diplomatic agency in Italy in 1903, and by Decree of August 25 of that year, Dimitar Minchovich was appointed as the first Bulgarian diplomatic agent in Rome.

During the First World War, Bulgaria severed its diplomatic relations with the countries of the Triple Alliance, including Italy, and the Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary in Italy, Dimitar Stanchov, returned to Bulgaria, whilst his Italian counterpart in Sofia and the Italian consuls in Ruse, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas left Bulgaria.

After the First World War, diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored on the initiative of Italy on September 14, 1920, with Pancho Hadzhimishev appointed Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary in Italy, and Count Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti appointed Italian Minister Plenipotentiary in Bulgaria.

For a brief period during the Second World War, the Bulgarian government of Konstantin Muraviev severed diplomatic relations with Mussolini's Italy, which were restored a few months later on January 3, 1945.

In 1964, the governments of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and Italy agreed that their legations would be elevated to the rank of embassies. On June 19, 1964, the Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary in Rome, Krum Hristov, presented his new credentials as the first Bulgarian Ambassador to Italy, while Minister Plenipotentiary Orazio Antinori presented his new credentials in Sofia as the first Ambassador of Italy to the People's Republic of Bulgaria on June 30.

On January 9, 1992, a Friendship and Cooperation Agreement was signed in Rome between the Foreign Affairs Ministries of Bulgaria and Italy, noting the philosophy of the new architecture of Europe based on the right to peace, democracy, freedom and full respect for basic human rights and adopting the principles of sovereignty, equality, understanding and mutual respect of the United Nations Charter.

The Italian government was one of the first Western governments to grant 30 billion pounds in grant aid to Bulgaria after the 1989 collapse of totalitarian rule.

Culture is a privileged basis for cooperation between the two countries, because of the significant common artistic and architectural heritage. In 2019, the two cities of Matera and Plovdiv twinned as European Capitals of Culture.

According to the Italian statistical institute, there are around 60,000 Bulgarian citizens living long-term in Italy as of 2024.