President, First Lady to visit Italy on Oct 23-24

President Sauli Niinistö will make a state visit to Italy with First Lady Jenni Haukio, on October 23–24, said the President Office in a press release on Thursday.

Niinistö will hold formal discussions with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinal Palace in Rome on October 23. The Presidents’ discussions will focus on current security policy issues and bilateral relations between Finland and Italy.

In the afternoon, Niinistö will meet Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, over a working lunch and have discussions with Ignazio La Russa, President of the Italian Senate, and Lorenzo Fontana, President of the Chamber of Deputies.

The presidential couple will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and attend a dinner hosted by President Mattarella and his daughter Laura Mattarella.

On Tuesday 24 October, the presidential couple will travel to Naples, where Niinistö will visit NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command and meet its commander, Admiral Stuart B. Munsch. The presidential couple will also attend a lunch hosted by Italian President Mattarella and Laura Mattarella at the official residence of the President, Villa Rosebery.

In addition to the joint programme, Haukio will have a tour of the art collection at the Quirinal Palace with Laura Mattarella and visit art-historical and cultural heritage sites in Rome and Naples.

Niinistö previously visited Italy to attend a meeting of the Arraiolos Group, which consists of European Presidents, in 2021. Mattarella paid a state visit to Finland in 2017.