Tajani adds personal touch to US-Italy talks.
Italy’s deputy premier and foreign minister Antonio Tajani presented US secretary of state Marco Rubio with a family tree tracing his Italian ancestry during a bilateral summit in Rome on Friday.
Tajani gave Rubio the document, which charts his family’s origins to the northern Piemonte region, during their meeting at the Farnesina, Italy’s foreign ministry.
The gesture prompted a warm response from the American diplomat. “It’s a special moment to receive all this information, and it’s an incredible experience and one more reason to return soon, visit the region, learn about it, and connect with the past, hoping it will also serve as inspiration for how we can work together in the future,” he said.
Rubio, whose parents were Cubans of Spanish and Italian descent and who speaks Spanish, pledged to try to learn Italian. He joked that his subscription to the Babbel language-learning app had expired and he would have to renew it.
He said that he already understood Italian well enough to follow conversations without translation headphones, adding: “So next time I come back and am in the region, I will give a speech in Italian.”
Following his talks with Rubio, Tajani told reporters that the meeting was “positive” and that he “reiterated the importance of Western unity and transatlantic relations.”
Tajani said he told Rubio that Italy “supports all initiatives that can lead to a permanent ceasefire” in Iran and reiterated that Italy was ready to make navy ships available to carry out minesweeping activities in the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over.
He said the talks also included the importance of Italy’s role in Lebanon to ensure stability, as well as other issues including Venezuela, Africa, Cuba, and tariffs.
“I reiterated that an American presence in Europe is important to us”, Tajani said, stressing that: “Europe needs America, Italy needs America, but the United States also needs Europe.”
Rubio subsequently met prime minister Giorgia Meloni for a courtesy visit at Palazzo Chigi, the final stop of his trip to the Italian capital, which included a meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Thursday.
Photo credit: Joey Sussman / Shutterstock.com
