Postcard From Colosseum: Meloni Shares Selfie With "Friend" PM Modi In Rome

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Rome on Tuesday and received a warm welcome from his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni. Sharing a picture with her "friend" PM Modi on X (formerly Twitter), Meloni wrote: "Welcome to Rome, my friend!" and added two emoticons depicting the national flags of Italy and India.

The picture shows the Colosseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, a massive stone oval in the center of Rome illuminated in the background. The viral photo has garnered over a million views, nearly 60,000 likes, and over 2,000 comments rooting for the international friendship between the two world leaders.

PM Modi shared four pictures from a dinner with Meloni. In a social media post, he shared that upon landing in Rome, he met Meloni for dinner followed by a visit to the Colosseum.

"We exchanged perspectives on a wide range of subjects. Looking forward to our talks today, where we will continue the conversation on how to boost the India-Italy friendship," he added.

PM Modi is in the final leg of his five-nation tour. Prior to this, he was in Norway, UAE, Netherlands and Sweden. 

In Italy, PM Modi is scheduled to meet President Sergio Mattarella, hold bilateral talks with PM Georgia Meloni and participate in other diplomatic engagements before departing for India on Wednesday.

PM Modi had last visited Italy to participate in the G7 Summit in June 2024.

During the G7 summit, Meloni shared a selfie and a video of herself with PM Modi. In the picture, the two leaders can be seen smiling. While in the video, they can be seen waving at the camera with Meloni saying "Hello from the Melodi team".

"Melodi" is a term that went viral on social media after PM Modi and Meloni bilateral meeting last year.

"Hi friends, from #Melodi," she posted on X.

Responding to her post, the Prime Minister said, "Long live India-Italy friendship!"

A year before that, in 2023, the selfie of the two leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai was widely shared on the internet.

"Good friends at COP28. #Melodi," Meloni had captioned the photograph.

Selfies from every meeting show the great bond the two leaders share.