Agostino Giorgio Soldati: Difference between revisions

== Education, career and death ==

== Education, career and death ==

After attending school in [[Lugano]] and studying law in Vienna and Bern, where he received his doctorate, Agostino Giorgio Soldati joined the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs|Federal Political Department]] (FPD) in 1938. As a young diplomat, he worked as a commissioner for economic affairs in Bern, Rom, Paris and Lisbon. From 1940 to 1944 he was posted to Berlin, where he represented the interests of 21 countries to the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]].<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”>Marc Perrenoud: ”Agostino Giorgio Soldati,” Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 10.03.2023, online, 2025</ref>

After attending school in [[Lugano]] and studying law in Vienna and Bern, where he received his doctorate, Agostino Giorgio Soldati joined the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs|Federal Political Department]] (FPD) in 1938. As a young diplomat, he worked as a commissioner for economic affairs in Bern, Rom, Paris and Lisbon. From 1940 to 1944 he was posted to Berlin, where he represented the interests of 21 countries to the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]].<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”>Marc Perrenoud: ”Agostino Giorgio Soldati,” Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), Version vom 10.03.2023, online, 2025</ref>

=== New York, Paris and a château in Switzerland ===

=== New York, Paris and a château in Switzerland ===

In 1957, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed observer to the [[United Nations]] in New York with the title of [[Plenipotentiary|Minister Plenipotentiary]]. In 1958, he returned to Paris where he became the head of the Swiss delegation to the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) and to the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC). In the same year, through the mediation of Dora von Salis, wife of the former Swiss [[Envoy (title)|envoy]] to France, Minister Peter Anton von Salis (1898–1982), Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades, wife of Agostino Giorgio Soldati, bought the Château de Trévelin in [[Aubonne (Vaud)|Aubonne]] from the banker Édouard Bordier (1874–1957), partner of [[Bordier & Cie]], and his heirs respectively. According to oral tradition, Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome bought the château unseen, only on the basis of the oral telephone descriptions of Dora von Salis, who lived nearby in [[Mont-sur-Rolle]]. In addition to personalities from Switzerland, it was above all the French ”[[High society|haute volée]]” who met at the Château de Trévelin, including [[Alain Poher]] and [[René Pleven]].<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/><ref name=”Châteaux Suisses”>Les châteaux suisses: ”Château de Trévelin,” Interview avec Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, 1997, online, 2025</ref>

In 1957, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed observer to the [[United Nations]] in New York with the title of [[Plenipotentiary|Minister Plenipotentiary]]. In 1958, he returned to Paris where he became the head of the Swiss delegation to the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) and to the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC). In the same year, through the mediation of Dora von Salis, wife of the former Swiss [[Envoy (title)|envoy]] to France, Minister Peter Anton von Salis (1898–1982), Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades, wife of Agostino Giorgio Soldati, bought the Château de Trévelin in [[Aubonne (Vaud)|Aubonne]] from the banker Édouard Bordier (1874–1957), partner of [[Bordier & Cie]], and his heirs respectively. According to oral tradition, Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome bought the château unseen, only on the basis of the oral telephone descriptions of Dora von Salis, who lived nearby in [[Mont-sur-Rolle]]. In addition to personalities from Switzerland, it was above all the French ”[[High society|haute volée]]” who met at the Château de Trévelin, including [[Alain Poher]] and [[René Pleven]].<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/><ref name=”Châteaux Suisses”>Les châteaux suisses: ”Château de Trévelin,” Interview avec Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, 1997, online, 2025</ref>

In 1959, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was accredited as the first ambassador to the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) and the [[Euratom|European Atomic Energy Community]] (EAEC or EURATOM).<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/>

Agostino Giorgio Soldati was accredited as the first ambassador to the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) and the [[Euratom|European Atomic Energy Community]] (EAEC or EURATOM).<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/>

==== Ambassador to France ====

==== Ambassador to France ====

In 1961, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed [[List of ambassadors of Switzerland to France|ambassador to France]] and head of the delegation to the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD), with residence at the [[Hôtel de Besenval]]. He presented his ”[[Letter of credence|Lettres de créance]]” to President [[Charles de Gaulle]] on 25 September of the same year.<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/>

In 1961, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed [[List of ambassadors of Switzerland to France|ambassador to France]], with residence at the [[Hôtel de Besenval]]. He presented his ”[[Letter of credence|Lettres de créance]]” to President [[Charles de Gaulle]] on 25 September of the same year.<ref name=”Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz Perrenoud”/>

=== His last participation in the annual Swiss Ambassadors Conference: The legacy ===

=== His last participation in the annual Swiss Ambassadors Conference: The legacy ===

Swiss lawyer and diplomat

Agostino Giorgio Soldati
Ambassador Agostino Giorgio Soldati (left) and his wife Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades, called Daisy, in conversation with Émile Monney on 13 January 1964 in Paris, who celebrated his 105th birthday on that day. The ambassador and his wife hosted lavish parties and entertained on a grand scale: In Paris at the Hôtel de Besenval, in Switzerland at their country estate, the Château de Trévelin.
Born	17 November 1910 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	11 December 1966 (aged 56) Geneva, Switzerland
Occupation	Diplomat
Spouse(s)	Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades, née Thome (1907–2001)
Parent(s)	Pio Soldati (1871–1934) and Maria Pia, née Balli
Relatives	Francesco Balli (1852–1924) (grandfather)

Agostino Giorgio Soldati (1910–1966) was a Swiss lawyer, diplomat and Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to France. His family originated from Neggio.

After attending school in Lugano and studying law in Milan, Vienna and Bern, where he received his doctorate in 1934, Agostino Giorgio Soldati joined the Federal Political Department (FPD) in 1938. As a young diplomat, he worked as a commissioner for economic affairs in Bern, Rom, Paris and Lisbon. From 1940 to 1944 he was posted to Berlin, where he represented the interests of 21 countries to the Third Reich.^[1]

In 1957, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed observer to the United Nations in New York with the title of Minister Plenipotentiary. In 1958, he returned to Paris where he became the head of the Swiss delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In the same year, through the mediation of Dora von Salis, wife of the former Swiss envoy to France, Minister Peter Anton von Salis (1898–1982), Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades, wife of Agostino Giorgio Soldati, bought the Château de Trévelin in Aubonne from the banker Édouard Bordier (1874–1957), partner of Bordier & Cie, and his heirs respectively. According to oral tradition, Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome bought the château unseen, only on the basis of the oral telephone descriptions of Dora von Salis, who lived nearby in Mont-sur-Rolle. In addition to personalities from Switzerland, it was above all the French haute volée who met at the Château de Trévelin, including Alain Poher and René Pleven.^[1][2]

Agostino Giorgio Soldati was a delegate to the European Coal and Steel Community. In 1959, he was accredited as the first ambassador to the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM) with residence in Paris.^[1]

In 1961, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was appointed ambassador to France, with residence at the Hôtel de Besenval. He presented his Lettres de créance to President Charles de Gaulle on 25 September of the same year.^[1]

At the last conference of the Swiss ambassadors in which he took part in September 1966, Agostino Giorgio Soldati declared: “The credit and weight of a country in the world do not depend at all on the number of its initiatives and declarations, but on the number of those which are taken seriously and have real consequences.”^[3]

Agostino Giorgio Soldati, who was extremely popular and well-connected in Parisian society, died in office in 1966, at the age of fifty-six, after five years in the French capital. On the day of his death, President Charles de Gaulle sent a telegram of condolence to the President of the Swiss Confederation, Hans Schaffner, which he signed with “Le Général de Gaulle”. Charles de Gaulle also sent a personal letter of condolence, dated 11 December 1966, to the widow Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades (1907–2001), called Daisy. This letter he signed with “Charles de Gaulle”. Pierre Micheli (1905–1989), the Secretary General of the Federal Political Department (FPD), wrote in his article in the Journal de Genève: “He had a broad education, a profound knowledge of facts and people and an ever-alert mind.”^[4][5]

“I will not forget, be sure of it, the great ambassador and friend of France that was Monsieur Soldati, whose intellectual and moral qualities assured, in the post he occupied for more than five years, an incontestable success.”

Since 1958, Agostino Giorgio Soldati was married to the rich and influntial socialite Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome, Comtesse de Contades (1907–2001). She had two daughters from her first marriage to André Marie Artur Aymard, Comte de Contades (1900–1958). Marguerite Daisy Soldati-Thome was the daughter of André Thome and the sister of Jacqueline Thome-Patenôtre.^[1]

• La responsabilité des États dans le droit international, Éditions Duchemin, Paris, 1934

in alphabetical order

• Claude Altermatt: Les débuts de la diplomatie professionnelle en Suisse (1848–1914), Éditions Universitaires Fribourg Suisse, Fribourg, 1990
• Claude Altermatt: Zwei Jahrhunderte Schweizer Aussenvertretungen (1798–1998), Jubiläumsbroschüre 200-Jahre-Eröffnung der ersten Schweizer Gesandtschaft in Paris 1798, Eidgenössisches Departement für auswärtige Angelegenheiten (EDA), Vorwort Bundesrat Flavio Cotti, 1998
• Carl J. Burckhardt (Préface): In memoriam Agostino Soldati (1910–1966) – Ambassadeur de Suisse, Éditeur: E. Cherix et Filanosa, Nyon, 1968
• Jean-Jacques de Dardel: L’hôtel de Besenval – siège de l’ambassade de Suisse en France, Labor et Fides, Genève, 2013
• Florian Keller: Botschafterporträts – Schweizer Botschafter in den « Zentren der Macht » zwischen 1945 und 1975, Chronos Verlag, Zürich, 2018
• Jacques Rial: Le Bicorne et la Plume – Les publications de diplomates suisses de 1848 à nos jours, Préface de Bénédict de Tscharner, DiploFoundation & Institut de hautes études et du développement, Genève, 2008
• Jonas Ruffieux: Servir et disparaître – Récit de vie de Daniel von Muralt, Éditions Slatkine, Genève, 2025
• Bénédict de Tscharner: Profession ambassadeur – diplomate suisse en France, Éditions Cabédita, Yens-sur-Morges, 2002
• Paul Widmer: Diplomatie – Ein Handbuch, Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürich, 2014