There are ceremonies that mark an occasion, and there are ceremonies that mark a historic moment; what happened in Erbil on 8 July was unmistakably the latter. Italy conferred its highest state distinction, the Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy, on Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region, an honour presented by Ambassador Niccolò Fontana on behalf of the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella. It capped, in a single gesture, more than two decades of quietly accumulating ties between Erbil and Rome. The awarding of this highly precious medal landed at a moment when Kurdistan's political institutions could use precisely this kind of reassurance from international scenes.
