Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni met with President-elect Donald J. Trump on Saturday at a Florida golf club for an informal meeting.
Ms. Meloni’s trip to Mar-a-Lago comes just days as she prepares for President Biden’s official visit to Italy and the Vatican from January 9 to 12.
On Saturday, she appeared in the Grand Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago. According to media reports, Trump said he was having dinner with Ms. Meloni, whom he called “a wonderful woman,” adding, “She really took Europe and everyone else by storm.”
They watched a film called “The Eastman Dilemma: Law or Justice” with some potential members of a future Trump administration, including Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant.
Ms. Meloni and Mr. Trump have expressed mutual admiration in the past, and her trip is one of the first visits by a foreign leader to the president-elect’s official residence in Florida since his election last November. The meeting boosted hopes among Meloni’s supporters that the conservative Italian prime minister would become Trump’s preferred ally in Europe.
Much of that role will involve mediating tensions between other European leaders and Trump, who has threatened to launch a trade war with the continent and reduce U.S. support for some NATO countries and the war in Ukraine with Russia.
The agenda for Saturday night’s meeting is unclear, but observers expect the two leaders to discuss the issues.
Another possible topic of discussion, according to observers, is the detention of prominent Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran. A few days ago, Italy arrested an Iranian suspected of supplying drone parts to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the request of the United States. Iran regularly detains foreigners and dual citizens in exchange for money and people.
A person familiar with the meeting said Ms. Meloni pushed hard for the meeting to take place.
She also has a good relationship with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to the president-elect, which her supporters hope will bolster her international standing once Trump becomes president.
Since his election, Mr. Trump has welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a champion of “illiberal democracy” at Mar-a-Lago, as well as Argentina’s firebrand right-wing President Javier Milley. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first G7 leader to visit Trump in Florida since the election after he threatened to impose tariffs on Canada.
Maggie Haberman Contributed reporting.
