United States President Barack Obama started a packed series of official engagements in Rome on Thursday when he arrived at the Vatican to meet Pope Francis.
Obama landed in Rome late on Wednesday and spent the night at the 15th-century Villa Taverna, the residence of US Ambassador John R. Phillips.
Later in the day he will meet Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the presidential palace and then have talks with Premier Matteo Renzi at the Renaissance-built Villa Madama, where Italy often receives international guests.
He will also tour the Colosseum, which will be off-limits to the public beginning at 13:00 local time, as will the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, police said.
Obama will also tour the Colosseum, which will be off-limits to the public beginning at 13:00 local time, as will the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, police said.
Italy has deployed 1,000 police in the capital to watch over the American president as well as any other potential targets, such as embassies. The bomb squad is also afoot, with dog units combing the presidential itinerary, while river police scour the Tiber river near St. Peter's Basilica and the Holy See.
Throughout the visit, Obama's motorcade will be watched over by a helicopter and by snipers placed on every building along the route. The president is being escorted at all times by an estimated 200 US special forces and military personnel, including marines.
Obama's visit to Rome and the Vatican is his next-to-last stop in a week-long international mission to the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, the Holy See, and Saudi Arabia.
His trip has already included international talks at the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, at which the United States and other members of the G8 suspended Russia over its annexation of the Ukraine peninsular of Crimea. He arrived in Rome from Brussels, where he is attended an EU-US summit and meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Obama was last in Italy in 2009, when he attended a G8 summit of industrialized nations in the city of L'Aquila.
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