Born in Trieste in 1968, professional journalist he attended the faculty of Letters and Philosophy and graduated with a thesis on “Psychology of Communication”. “North-east ferments, economy, science and culture in the new geopolitical theatre” is the new program he supervises and hosts from the Italian public radio station of Friuli Venezia Giulia, while “Theories and techniques of communication for cooperation and emergency” is the course he is teaching at the Master’s Degree course of International Diplomacy and Cooperation (the only MD course of this type in Italy), through which the department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Trieste trains international officials of high professional profile, with diplomatic, cooperation and communication skills.

 He was spokesman of the Italian UN contingent in Lebanon and of UNIFIL Sector West (Italy, France, Ghana, South Korea, Slovenia, Brunei and Malaysia), deployed in compliance with the UN Security Council resolution 1701, and Senior Expert of Communication in the programme “Instrument for Stability” of the European Commission.

Roberto Vitale started his activity as a journalist at the daily newspaper “Trieste Oggi”. Subsequently, he was editor of “Cronaca Nord-Est” and collaborated with the daily newspaper “Il Piccolo”. He was correspondent for the Milanese journal “L’Indipendente” in the mid 1990s, then he worked in the editorial staff of “Telequattro”, regional TV station of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In 2002 he was hired by the news agency “Ansa” and lastly by the daily newspaper “Il Gazzettino”, where he concluded his professional activity as a journalist to take on top roles in the field of communication, both in Italy and abroad, and to dedicate himself to teaching. Some of his inquiries and articles were published by the business newspaper “Il Sole 24 Ore” and by “Il Messaggero”.

Among his foreign experiences in journalism, he reported from Eastern Europe, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, France, Ghana, Greece, Egypt and the United States of America, where back in 2003 he documented for “Il Gazzettino” the arrival of the “Isabel” hurricane, one of the most violent natural phenomena in history, which hit devastating part of the north-eastern coast. He also followed, as a correspondent, several military operations abroad.

Enthusiast of the subject in the scientific-disciplinary sector SPS/08 “Sociology of cultural and communication processes”, from the academic year 2016-2017 he is in charge of the course “Theories and techniques of communication for cooperation and emergency” at the Master’s Degree course of International Diplomacy and Cooperation of the University of Trieste. Previously, from the academic year 2011-2012 to the academic year 2015-2016, he was contract professor of “Journalism and new media”, “Theory and techniques of journalism and television language” and “History of journalism and social communications” at the Bachelor’s Degree course of Communication Studies at the department of Humanities of the University of Trieste. He was also teacher at the “Writing Workshop” of the Bachelor’s Degree course of Public Relations of the University of Udine.

Until the academic year 2011-2012 he taught at the 1st-level Master of “Analysis and management of communication” at the faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Trieste. He taught communication classes at the State University of Milan and was lecturer of “International protection of the rights of man, of cultures and of the environment” for the graduation course of International and Diplomatic Sciences of the faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Trieste.

 He is co-author of the book “La sicurezza sul lavoro dei ricercatori in zone a rischio geopolitico. Cos’è la normalità tra intelligence e terrorismo?” [Safety at work of researchers in areas of geopolitical risk. What is normality between intelligence and terrorism?], which is actually the first tool in Italy and probably in Europe to offer an overview of international security. Published by EUT (University of Trieste Publishing) in 2017, it is dedicated to the memory of Giulio Regeni, the researcher who was killed in 2016 in Egypt while he was carrying out a research on independent unions.

 “Lampi di guerra sul Libano” [Flashes of war above Lebanon], published by Italo Svevo in 2009, is the title of the book about the peacekeeping mission of UN Blue Helmets in Lebanon during the last Israeli-Palestinian war in the Gaza Strip. Coping with life is not easy, doing it with war is even more difficult, but this is the condition that after a concise, though complete prologue of the ambassador Gabriele Checchia, who provides the reader with an overview of the historical context of the book – allowed Vitale to talk about the exhausting succession of ceasefires, which for ages had prevented peace, until the day of the new American dream: 20 January 2009, the inauguration day of Barack Obama as US President, the day after the end of the Israeli-Palestinian “Operation Cast Lead” war. He is also author of journalism and communication pamphlets.

 The distinctions include the UN Commemorative Medal, the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission Commemorative Medal, the Italian Red Cross Merit Bronze Medal and the 14th-century Seal of the City of Trieste. He also received a commendation from the UN Joint Task Force Lebanon Headquarters. Vitale was also awarded the special prize for the journalism career from Aerec (European Academy for Economic and Cultural Relations), the Agape prize and the Africa-Italy Excellence Award.