The King and Queen will make a State visit to Italy in December

Luis Ayllón Their Majesties the King and Queen plan to make a State visit to Italy in the first half of December, in return for the one made to Spain in 2021 by the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, according to The Diplomat from diplomatic sources. In principle, according to the same sources, the trip, which has not yet been officially announced, will take place after the Constitution and Immaculate Conception bridge, around December 10. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia will be received in Rome by President Mattarella, at his official residence at the Quirinal Palace. In addition to meetings with the President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, their agenda also includes a trip to the city of Naples, where the Spanish footprint is very strong. This will be the second state visit made by the King and Queen in 2024. The first took them to the Netherlands on 17 and 18 April. Italy was one of the first countries that Don Felipe and Doña Letizia officially visited after ascending to the throne in 2014, being received in November of that year by the then president, Giorgio Napolitano. Since then, the relationship with Italy has been very intense, and this has been helped by the fact that, every year, the Italian president participates with the King and the president of Portugal in the Cotec Europa meetings, whose honorary presidency is held by the Spanish Monarch, and whose objective is to reflect and exchange ideas on problems and needs common to companies and economies of the three countries. In fact, Mattarella participated on September 19 in the latest edition of Cotec, held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was unable to attend due to the serious wave of fires affecting his country at that time. The Italian president, accompanied by his daughter, Laura Mattarella, who acts as first lady, made a state visit to Spain on November 16 and 17, 2021, and then attended the Cotec Europa meeting, held in Malaga. On that occasion, Mattarella conveyed to the King and Queen the wish that they could return the visit as soon as possible, something that is now going to become a reality. In June 2023, the King traveled to Palermo for the Cotec Europa meeting and visited the city center, taking a tour of the culture and history of the Mediterranean island, which includes the Spanish footprint in the ancient Kingdom of Sicily.

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