West Palm Beach, Florida – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made an unexpected visit to Florida on January 5 to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump ahead of his inauguration on January 20. Meloni, who has led a right-wing coalition in Italy since October 2022, met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in a trip that had not been announced in advance.
“Lovely evening with Donald Trump who I thank for the welcome,” Meloni posted on social media, along with a picture of her and Trump. “Ready to work together,” she added on X, alongside the Italian and US flags.
While no details of the talks were released, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said they covered issues including the plight of Cecilia Sala, an Italian journalist detained in Iran in December 2024. Salvini praised Meloni for discussing peace, industrial and commercial cooperation, security, and the freeing of Sala.
Meloni was greeted with applause after an introduction by Trump, who praised her as a “fantastic woman” who has “taken Europe by storm.” Meloni is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and close relationship with billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk, a Trump ally.
Italy’s EU and regional affairs minister Tommaso Foti said the meeting showed Italy could act as “a diplomatic bridge between two worlds: the European Union and the USA.” Meloni’s trip comes days before she is to meet US President Joe Biden during a visit to Rome from January 9 to 12.
During the visit, Trump and Meloni watched a screening of a documentary questioning the criminal investigations faced by John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer central to Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
One of the biggest challenges facing Meloni is the arrest of journalist Sala in Tehran on December 19, 2024. Sala was detained three days after Iranian businessman Mohammad Abedini was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts used in a January 2024 attack that killed three US service members in Jordan. Iran has denied involvement in the attack.
Meloni is the latest in a handful of foreign leaders who have visited Trump in Florida since the November 5 election, following meetings with Argentine President Javier Milei, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.