Italian Sen. Massimo Mallegni, former mayor of Montgomery’s sister city Pietrasanta, Italy, will provide the keynote address at Troy University’s fall commencement exercises.

The ceremony will begin at 10:00 a.m. Dec. 14 in Trojan Arena, where nearly 700 graduates are expected to participate.

Tickets are not required for commencement this year.

A native of Pietrasanta, Mallegni was elected to three terms as mayor. In 2017, he was elected to the Italian Senate, representing the Tuscany region as a member of the Forza Italia party. He was elected provincial counselor in 1994, and elected to the Pietrasanta city council in 1997.He has served as chairman of two solid waste management companies, Ersu and Vea and served for two years as a director for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation. In 2016, he was appointed deputy vice president of Aiccre, the Italian Association of Municipalities and Regions of Europe.

The first foreign citizen to be recognized as an honorary citizen of the City of Montgomery, he has also forged alliances between Pietrasanta and the cities of Ecaussiness, Belgium, Villeparisis, France, Grenzach Wyhlen, Germany and Utsunomiya, Japan.

He and his wife Paola, own a four-star luxury hotel in Marina di Pietrasanta. They have three children, all of whom are university students.