Guelph reopens honorary Italian vice-consulate after nearly six-year closure

The office was last open in 2020, beside the Italian Canadian Club. Piero Titone will be at the helm as the honorary vice-consul. It is entirely voluntary role.
He can legalize documents, take people’s fingerprints and photos for their Italian passport, and support them with their ties to Italy.
“I hope that also the Italian-Canadian community in this city and surroundings will appreciate the fact that after some efforts, because it was not easy, it was not easy, I repeat, but finally the viceconsulate is here,” said Luca Zelioi, consul general of the consulate general of Italy in Toronto, in his
remarks.

The vice-consulate aims to be fully operational by June.

The office is at Old Quebec Street Shoppes, unit 214 C. Francesca Orlando was the last vice-consul in Guelph in 2019. She had to leave her post due to a
brain tumour, with three years of rehabilitation ahead of her. “I felt sorry because I promised that I was going to serve the community,” said Orlando.
If it wasn’t for her condition she would still be serving in the role.

Before her, her husband Gabriel Niccoli held the title but left at 70-years-old since the Italian
government has an age limitation for the role. “It means a lot, especially for my daughter, for example. If you call the Italian consulate (in
Toronto), it’s very difficult to find an appointment,” said Orlando. It also means Italians in Guelph and surrounding areas will have a vice-consulate close to home.
Italian citizenship, birth, death, marriage, military service registration and passport applications
can be done here.

Titone will be signing documents and he and his small team will assist people with things related to their Italian citizenship.

He is from Sicily and moved with his family from Milan to Canada more than four decades ago. At 16-years-old he attended Bishop Macdonell Catholic High School when it was downtown. He studied hotel and food administration at the University of Guelph. For 36 years he commuted from Guelph to Toronto for his career as assistant trade commissioner for the Italian government. He was asked to be the vice-consul about 10 years ago but he was still working. He began an early retirement three years ago, so it made sense for him to commit to the role now.

In 1977, Sylvia Zamin, was the secretary to the first honorary vice-consul in Guelph. She continued
working with other vice-consuls. In the years the office closed she knew Guelph and surrounding municipalities needed a viceconsulate, whether it be Italian citizens or second generation Italians. “I’m so excited this is happening, because my baby is back,” said Zamin.