ROME: A Kuwaiti professor of anthropology and archeology has been honored with a knighthood by the Italian Republic.

The Italian Ambassador to Kuwait Carlo Baldocci awarded Prof. Hassan Ashkanani with the Order of the Star of Italy “for his efforts in boosting intellectual, cultural and academic ties between the two friendly countries.”

This distinction, Italy’s second-highest civilian honor, is given to Italians or foreigners who have acquired special merit in the promotion of friendly relations and cooperation between the republic and other countries.

At a ceremony at the Italian Embassy attended by a number of academics and intellectuals, Baldocci lauded Ashkanani’s efforts “in organizing the first winter school of archeology at the Social Sciences College next January.”

The school is the first of its kind in a Gulf Cooperation Council member state.

The Italian envoy said that the Kuwaiti academic’s activity included lectures and field visits with anthropology students as well as visits to Kuwaiti museums, adding that his efforts furthered cross-cultural engagement.

Ashkanani, who lectures at Kuwait University, expressed his appreciation for the honor, telling the ceremony: “I’m a soldier for my country to serve its history, culture and heritage.”

The professor is one of the most renowned collectors of ancient books by Italian travellers who roamed in the Arabian Peninsula, focussing predominantly on Kuwait.

He owns the rarest book by the oldest Italian traveller to Kuwait, Marco Mosizzano, a surgeon in the Italian royal house and a member of the mission of King Emmanuel II. 

During Mosizzano’s visit in 1862, he detailed the king’s wishes to procure Arabian horses that Italy needed for its wars.

In that period, Italy purchased many horses from Kuwaiti merchant Youssef Al-Badr.

The book also covers the meeting between King Emmanuel’s mission with the Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah bin Jaber bin Abdullah Al-Sabah, the fourth head of the country.

Alongside his work as an assistant professor, Ashkanani is the curator of Kuwait University’s Anthropology and Archeology Museum and also runs the laboratory in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology.

His research interests involve the nature of sociopolitical entities, social complexity, social archeology, and trade between 7,000 to 4,000 years ago.