Alliance Celebration in Naples

The two-day event began with a gala performance on 8 April, which was opened by Admiral Stuart B. Munsch, Commander of the JFCNP and the United States Naval Forces Europe and Africa (US NAVEUR/NAVAF), and Gaetano Manfredi, the mayor of Naples. The concert held in the San Carlo Theatre, Naples, was attended by several ambassadors of 32 NATO member states, top military leaders, the invited mayors of the region of Campania and members of the JFCNP personnel.

The San Carlo Theatre in Naples – which is one of the oldest operating theatres in the world – opened its gates in 1737, decades before the Scala in Milano or the Fenice Theatre in Venice. It provided a wonderful venue for this event, where the US NAVEUR/NAVAF Band was augmented with the bandsmen of NATO member states. Besides the arrangements of some famous Neapolitan songs, several world-famous masterpieces of music were played during the concert such as “Con te partiro”, which was first performed by Andrea Bocelli at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1995, and the piece of music entitled Defend Every Inch, composed by Dr. Christopher Buchanan, composer and trumpeter upon the request of Admiral Stuart B. Munsch, had its world premiere.

USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet of the US Navy also arrived in Naples for the closing day of the event. The reception was held on board of the USS Mount Whitney in Port of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in the background. Hungary was represented by Ádám Zoltán Kovács, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Vittorio Genna, Honorary Consul of Hungary, while the leadership of the Hungarian Defence Forces was represented by Colonel Árpád Szabó at the event. The speeches at the ceremony were held by Admiral Stuart B. Munsch and Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee.