ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER Giorgia Meloni has paid an unofficial surprise visit to US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Florida residence.
Photos sent by the office of the right-wing prime minister early today showed Meloni and Trump posing at the entrance to Mar-a-Lago and chatting in a reception room, a Christmas tree visible in the background.
Her office provided no statement nor did it respond to repeated requests for confirmation of the Saturday visit, which US media reported included a film screening and dinner.
Meloni is one of several foreign leaders, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who paid visits to Trump, who is due to be inaugurated for the second time on 20 January.
The visit by Meloni, who heads the conservative, right-wing Brothers of Italy party, comes ahead of a four-day visit to Rome by US President Joe Biden, where he is expected to meet with Meloni and, separately, Pope Francis.
Photographs of Meloni provided by her office also showed her shaking hands with Florida Senator Marco Rubio.
Trump appeared at a screening of a documentary detailing challenges some conservative lawyers report facing in the legal system.
The president-elect watched a screening of the documentary with Meloni and his pick for the incoming administration’s secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, as well as Florida Representative Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for national security advisor, and his nomination to head the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent.
Trump told the crowd: “This is very exciting.”
“I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy. She’s really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we’re just having dinner tonight.”
President Joe Biden is set to travel to Rome to meet with Meloni, as well as Pope Francis, from Thursday.
The White House says the meeting with Meloni will “highlight the strength of the US-Italy relationship” and feature Biden thanking the prime minister “for her strong leadership of the G7 over the past year”.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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