Barack Obama Arrives in Italy For G8 Summit

Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 6:22 pm

ROME: US President Barack Obama, accompanied by his wife Michelle, arrived Wednesday in Italy to attend a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the city of L’Aquila.
Barack Obama Arrives in Italy For G8 Summit
The couple landed at the Pratica di Mare military airport near Rome and then boarded a helicopter bound for the Italian capital.

Obama is scheduled to meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the presidential residence Palazzo Quirinale in Rome before travelling to L’Aquila.

In L’Aquila, Obama, accompanied by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is expected to visit some of the areas damaged by an earthquake that struck the city in April, killing nearly 300 people and leaving some 60,000 homeless.

The visit to Italy is the first by Obama since he became president.

On Friday afternoon, the US President is scheduled to return to Rome for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City.