European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Friday was in Rome for an official visit that included meetings with Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa and Lower House Speaker Lorenzo Fontana and she is also having talks with President Sergio Mattarella.
But the most hotly awaited meeting, with Premier Giorgia Meloni, is not happening because Italy’s first woman head of government has had to cancel her engagements for this week because she is sick with the flu.

Metsola took a break from the institutional meetings she is having in Rome on Friday to have a stroll in the centre of the city with Mayor Roberto Gualtieri.

Metsola walked around the lively Campo de’ Fiori square and its street market, chatting with locals and trying a slice of freshly baked pizza at a bakery.
She was with Gualtieri to inaugurate a ‘Europe Space’ dedicated to her Italian predecessor David Sassoli, who died at the age of 65 last year.

Photos: EP/Video ANSA
Via ANSA