Ambassador Paolo Toschi was born in Ferrara, Italy in 1975. He graduated cum laude in Law at the University of Ferrara, with a dissertation in International Criminal Law. He holds a degree in European Union Law from Université Robert Schuman of Strasburg, France and a degree in diplomatic studies from SIOI, Rome.
He joined the Italian diplomatic service in 2001. Within the Italian diplomatic network, he has held positions of consul in the United States (2004-2007) and of head of the Economic Section of the Italian Embassy in Serbia (2009-2013).
After the signature of the Lisbon Treaty, he was seconded by the Italian MFA to the European Commission, where he focused on EU Enlargement and on security in the Balkans (2007-2009).
He served under two Italian Prime Ministers (2013-2016) as a counselor for the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere within the team of the Diplomatic Advisor to the PM. As part of his duties, he represented Italy as the assistant G20 and G7 Sherpa in the Saint Petersburg, Brisbane and Antalya G20 summits and in the London, Brussels and Elmau G7 summits.
From 2016 – 2021 he served at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC as Head of the US politics and congressional affairs Section, in which capacity he followed both the 2016 and 2020 US Presidential elections.
From March 2021 until October 2022 he served as the Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Culture of Italy, and from March until October 2021 also as Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Tourism. In these capacities, he chaired two G20 Working Groups under the 2021 Italian chairmanship of the G20, and in 2022 he chaired the working group leading to the creation of the Italy-led Naples Process for Cultural Collaboration in the Mediterranean.
He took office on October 17, 2022 as Ambassador of Italy to the State of Qatar.
Throughout his career he has been lecturing as a guest visiting professor in many universities on topics of European integration and international affairs.
He has served in the Italian armed forces. He is married with Federica Cellini and they have three young children. He is an avid sportsman and friend of the arts.