Philadelphia’s lone European diplomat is leaving, after making a mark on the city’s academic, business, and professional communities — unusual after four years in a job whose public duties include signing visas and hosting parties.

But Consul General Andrea Canepari was drafted to do more — to build new contacts between Italian Americans and today’s Italians, far beyond fading memories of immigrant Nonna’s Sunday dinners. Now, he has been promoted to serve as Italy’s ambassador to a string of Caribbean countries. He is moving his family from South Philadelphia to Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic. His replacement hasn’t been announced.