The idea of opening a Tostmasters Club in Rome was born in January 2010 by Raffaele Galasso, president and trainer of Comteam, a corporate training and consultancy company (www.comteam.it), who discovered this initiative by reading the “One minute” series manager for the entrepreneur”, by Don Hutson, Ethan Willis, Kenneth Blanchard – since then the club has grown and become independent from Comteam.
The club was officially recognized as a Toastmasters club on 28 July 2010, as club 1399930. The club grew thanks to the help of Giancarlo GHIGLIA, a historical member of the Milan-Easy Toastmasters club. He came to Rome to visit his relatives, and with the occasion from a hand to the club.
▸2011/2012 – Under the presidency of Marco COSTANTINI the club began to meet periodically twice a month and reached the status of Select Distinguished Club. The club met a few times at the Parco della Pietà, then in a former library and then in the parish of S. Maria della Pietà.
▸2012/2013 – Under the presidency of Francesco FEDELE the club moves to three meetings per month, one of which is in English, moves its meetings to the American Palace hotel and reaches the status of President’s Distinguished Club.
▸Spring 2012/June 2014 – The club actively participates in the first meetings between Italian clubs, starting from the first Italian conference organized in Turin by Federico Pisano, where the first meeting between the clubs was also held to become part of District 59 In autumn 2012 – under the guidance of Francesco Fedele, the second Italian conference took place in Rome, attended by the then District Director Morag Mathieson (who later became International President). In spring 2013 the clubs meet in Milan (organised by Francesco Vecchiè), and then in autumn 2013 again in Turin (organised by Federico Pisano and Katia Burdet). Shortly afterwards, in the Budapest conference, the District approved the request of the Italian clubs to join District 59, which became official on 1 July 2014. To celebrate, Francesco Fedele and Silvio Rossi organized the fifth national conference in Rome on 28/29 June 2014.
Today the club actively collaborates with other Italian clubs and is in contact with clubs around the world, often hosting foreign Toastmasters visiting Rome.
Presidents and Roll of Honor
▸2010/11 Raffaele Galasso
▸2011/12 Marco Costantini Select Distinguished
▸2012/13 Francesco Fedele President Distinguished
▸2013/14 Carlo Ottaviani President Distinguished
▸2014/15 Carlo Rofena President Distinguished
▸2015/16 Flavio Nicola Iodice President Distinguished
▸2016/17 Lucy Michaels President Distinguished
▸2017/18 Giovanna Golini President Distinguished
▸2018/19 Laura Dell’Acquila President Distinguished
▸2019/20 Fiore Carfagna President Distinguished
▸2020/21 Carlo Rofena Select Distinguished
▸2021/22 Alessandro Gagliardi President Distinguished
▸2022/23 Michelle Bassanesi
▸2023/24 Caterina Marconi
Toastmasters Rome to date
▸Almost 14 years of life (birthday 28th July)
▸Over 400 meetings
▸Over 200 members over the years, each of whom has been a member for around 2 years on average
▸Over 1,200 speeches and over 6,000 roles played