Gilles Pécout

Gilles Pécout (born on 2 December 1961) is a French historian, academic and diplomat. He is currently the French Ambassador to Austria.

Biography
Pécout was born in Marseille in December 1961. He graduated from the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he was also professor and director of the History Department.

He holds the chair of Political and Cultural History of 19th century Italy and Mediterranean Europe at the Sorbonne.

He is known to the Italian public thanks to his participation in the RAI3 television program Il tempo e la storia and its sequel Passato e presente, of which he is also a member of the scientific committee.

On 15 September 2016, he was appointed rector of the Académie de Paris. In September 2020 he became Ambassador of France to Austria.

Works
Author of several works and scientific editions and director or co-director of 8 volumes, he has published 75 articles in French and foreign scientific journals (Italy, United States, Greece, United Kingdom, Japan, China) and occasionally collaborated with the daily newspapers Le Monde, Libération, and the Italian press.


 * Birth of Contemporary Italy, 1770-1922, Nathan, 1997; reissued, Armand Colin, 2004
 * Atlas of French History, Autrement, 2007
 * Grand Atlas of the History of France, under the direction of Jean Boutier, with Olivier Guyotjeannin, Autrement, 2011

Italian honours
Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – December 27, 2021

Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic – December 27, 2006