A change at the top of the General Directorate of the Civil Service (Direzione Generale della Funzione Pubblica) has, at the same time, opened a new vacancy at the University of the Republic of San Marino (Università degli Studi della Repubblica di San Marino). After weeks of speculation, the news is now official: Laura Gobbi has been appointed Director of the Civil Service. The announcement was reported by San Marino RTV.
The Congress of State formalised the decision through resolution number 22 of 4 August. Gobbi will take up her post on 16 September 2026 and will remain at the helm of the DGFP, barring renewal, until 14 September 2029. The contract runs for three years, with an initial three-month probationary period.
Gobbi will take over from Milena Gasperoni, who resigned last June for personal reasons after roughly a year in the role. The appointment thus brings to a close the period of uncertainty that followed her predecessor’s departure.
But the Congress of State’s decision simultaneously opens up another issue. Laura Gobbi currently serves as Director General of the University of the Republic of San Marino and, under the terms of the resolution, will be seconded from that role for the entire duration of her mandate at the Civil Service.
The question is, inevitably: who will take her place at the University? With Gobbi’s move to the DGFP effective from 16 September, it will be necessary to establish how the administrative leadership of the University will be handled during the director general’s secondment.
This is not, at least formally, a definitive farewell to the University: Gobbi is being seconded from the position, not severing her relationship with the institution altogether. But given that the new appointment could last at least three years and may be renewed, a far from secondary question emerges over the future organisation of the University’s structure.
Attention now turns to the decisions that lie ahead: a caretaker arrangement, a temporary replacement, or a fresh appointment? Having resolved the question of the Civil Service leadership, San Marino’s institutions must now turn to that of the University’s direction.
