Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, 9th Count of Montecupo

Don Riccardo Paternò, Count of Montecupo, Prince of Cerenzia, of the Dukes of San Nicola and Pozzomauro (born 5 October 1945) is an Italian economist and academic serving as the grand chancellor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta since September 2022. He is a member of the House of Paternò, a major Sicilian noble family.

Early life and economic career Paternò di Montecupo was born on 5 October 1945 in Naples, Italy. He attended the University of Naples Federico II and graduated with a law degree. He later became an economist and professor. He was the chair of International Economics for the University of Naples for 35 years, having begun teaching there in 1980. He also was a visiting professor at the London School of Economics in 1981 and taught International Economics at several other Italian universities. He is still the active President of the Ernst & Young Foundation.

A member of the Italian Society of Economists, he was also a contributor to the Naples daily newspaper Il Mattino. Paternò di Montecupo served as the Order's Deputy Observer for its mission to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and as the head of the Association of Italian Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from June 2016 to April 2023, thus also being the head of the SMOM Military Corps. He also became a member of the Sovereign Council of the Order of Malta and the Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as the Minister of Internal Affairs.

In September 2023, Paternò di Montecupo gave a speech at the United Nations Security Council on the subject of the war in Ukraine, discussing the humanitarian efforts put out by the SMOM as well as the costs of the war, noting that "there is no easy solution to this conflict, but peace remains the only way out of this tragic situation. We are aware that the process could be long, difficult and painful, but there is no alternative if we want to stop as soon as possible the enormous human suffering and the negative economic and social repercussions of the war at a global level," as well as that the monetary cost of the war was so great that it could have funded UNICEF for over 30 years. He was the first Grand Chancellor of the SMOM ever to speak at the UN Security Council. In October 2024, he was a co-signer of an agreement to officially establish relations between the SMOM and the United Kingdom.

Honours and awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Italy (2023) Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Merit of the Italian Republic (2025) Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (2023)

Ancestry