Colosseum selfies and 'Melody' toffee: Modi meets Meloni in Rome

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took selfies at the Colosseum and admired the view over Rome ahead of talks focused on trade on Wednesday.

In a video posted on X, Meloni also thanked Modi for bringing along a packet of “Melody” toffees on his visit, with the two seen laughing over the present — a play on their names.

Wrapping up a tour of Europe, Modi landed in Rome on Tuesday for the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to Italy in 26 years.

Modi previously visited Italy for a G20 meeting in 2021 and a G7 summit in 2024.

In a joint opinion in Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily, the two said they wanted to “reach and exceed the €20 billion ($23bn) target for trade between Italy and India by 2029”.

Particular sectors of interest would include defence, aerospace, car parts, clean technologies and textiles, they said.

“We aim to forge a powerful synergy between Italian design, manufacturing excellence, and world-class supercomputers… and India’s rapid economic growth, engineering talent, scale, and innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” they said.

Bilateral trade between Italy and India was €14.25bn last year, according to the Indian embassy to Italy.

Later on Wednesday, the two leaders will hold bilateral talks at Villa Pamphili, a 17th-century villa to the west of the city centre.

Modi on X said he would also visit the Rome headquarters of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) “strengthening India’s commitment to multilateralism as well as global food security”.