The long wait is finally over. At dawn today, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani announced the release of Alberto Trentini and Mario Burlò, the two Italian citizens who had been held in Venezuelan prisons for more than a year. They are now safe inside the Italian Embassy in Caracas, where they were welcomed by Ambassador Giovanni Umberto De Vito.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed the news shortly after, saying she had spoken directly with both men and that a plane had already departed from Rome to bring them home. She also thanked the Venezuelan authorities, particularly Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, for their cooperation in the final stages of the negotiations. According to Tajani, the two men are in good condition and are expected to return to Italy within the next 24 hours.

Trentini, a 46-year-old humanitarian worker, was arrested in November 2024 while traveling for the NGO Humanity & Inclusion. Since then, he had been held in El Rodeo prison, with only rare and tightly controlled contact with his family. Burlò, a businessman from Turin, was detained around the same period, and the two shared their limited daily time outdoors during their incarceration.

Italian diplomacy had quietly intensified efforts in recent months, especially after the appointment of a special envoy and amid shifting political dynamics in Caracas. Their release is being seen in Rome as a significant step toward reopening dialogue between the two countries.

For the families, however, today is above all a human victory: after a long and anxious year, the journey home can finally begin.