Italy’s ambassador to Spain highlights tourism, hospitality and services as key sectors for the Italian community, while acknowledging the heavy workload facing the consular network
“The main needs of Italians in Ibiza are administrative: documents, passports, lost or renewed paperwork and guidance,” Italy’s ambassador to Spain, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, explained during the official opening of the Italian vice-consulate in Ibiza on Friday afternoon at Core Ibiza Town.
The event formally presented an office that was already operating and which, according to Rossana Alvaro, Italy’s honorary vice-consul in Ibiza and Formentera, aims to bring consular services closer to a community that is playing an increasingly significant role in the Pitiusas.
“There are currently around 5,000 Italians registered with AIRE, the official registry for Italian citizens living abroad, although this figure increases considerably during the summer months,” Alvaro said, referring to the number of Italians currently living in the islands.
Italians are active across Ibiza’s economy
The event brought together local authorities and representatives of Ibiza’s civil society, including Ibiza Mayor Rafael Triguero and Consell de Ibiza President Vicent Marí, as well as businesspeople, associations and other organisations connected with the island’s Italian community.
Buccino Grimaldi pointed out that “the Italian presence in Ibiza extends across numerous sectors.”
He highlighted “tourism and services” in particular, while also mentioning lawyers, researchers, hospitality workers and young Italians who arrive on the island to work and “enjoy themselves.”
“There is a bit of everything,” the ambassador said.
Both the ambassador and the vice-consul agreed that the Italian community is represented across virtually every area of island life.
Alvaro particularly highlighted “restaurants and hotels”, while also pointing to construction professionals, entrepreneurs and other sectors.
“The Italian community is very broad, we have a bit of everything,” she said, stressing that it is also “very integrated” into life on the island.
The vice-consulate also provides emergency assistance
The vice-consulate’s work goes beyond administrative procedures.
Among its responsibilities is providing assistance in emergency situations, Alvaro explained, including cases involving “the loss of documentation needed to return to Italy or the death of an Italian citizen.”
Another important role, she added, is helping to “encourage the Italian economy here in Spain” by creating opportunities for contact and collaboration between the two communities.
According to Alvaro, these initiatives are particularly relevant because “the Italian community is very participative.”
Around 25,000 Italians live in the Balearic Islands
The size of Ibiza’s Italian community is also part of a much broader presence across the Balearic Islands.
The ambassador estimates that around 25,000 Italians live in the Balearics, a figure he compares to the population of “a small city, an Italian city.”
That resident population is complemented by what Buccino Grimaldi describes as an “important temporary or seasonal Italian presence, especially in Ibiza and Formentera”, where the number of Italian citizens rises significantly during certain months of the year.
The ambassador also acknowledged the heavy workload facing the consular network.
To serve a community of this size, he said, “many more employees and many more consuls would be needed.”
“Sometimes the workload is too much,” he admitted, although he considers that the three honorary consulates operating in the Balearics are responding appropriately to existing needs.
The ambassador also stressed that these offices provide more than administrative assistance. They can help Italians arriving in the islands for the first time and those looking to invest or establish business relationships in Ibiza.
Ibiza as a place to build a business
Among those attending the event was Leonardo, originally from Bologna, the owner of Caffè Pascucci and a resident of Ibiza for seven years.
His experience reflects the profile of some Italians who have chosen the island not only as a place to live, but also as a base for developing their own businesses.
Leonardo said he arrived on the island “always with an entrepreneurial mindset” and noted that he also owns other businesses in Italy.
His assessment of his experience in Ibiza is positive.
“We have done very well. Everything depends on the mindset you arrive with and what you want to do here,” he said.
Over the past seven years, he says his business activity has continued to grow and that he remains committed to Ibiza as a place to develop his business.
Strengthening ties between Italy and Ibiza
For Alvaro, the official opening of the vice-consulate also represents an opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Italian institutions and a community that continues to grow and play an active role in the island’s economic and social life.
She also ended the event with a direct message to Italian residents in Ibiza and Formentera.
“Now they have a closer consulate here, with more direct assistance, so they can feel more reassured,” the vice-consul concluded.
