The World’s Amica: How Meloni Is Remaking Italian-Style Diplomacy, With A Female Touch

-Analysis-

TURIN — Maybe they’re just carefully staged photo ops — crafted to suggest that she’s everyone’s favorite seatmate, the confidante the world’s top leaders turn to when the cameras aren’t rolling. 

But the images from the G7 in Canada — the shared bench with U.S. President Donald Trump, and even more tellingly, the intimate whispering with French President Emmanuel Macron while a scowling Trump takes his seat at the summit table — reveal at least two things.

First, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has a knack for handling the oversized egos of the alpha males — or self-styled ones — that populate international forums. Second, her approach reflects how a distinctly Italian way of being continues to assert itself even in the realm of politics — a blend of easy familiarity, a dash of cunning and a nod to the national stereotype of being everyone’s friend.

There are precedents, of course. Silvio Berlusconi, the three-time former Italian prime minister, pioneered the genre — though he often leaned too far into comedy, slipping into a kind of slapstick “Alberto Sordi” mode. There was the infamous “corna” gesture — in which the index and pinkie fingers are extended like horns, which can be offensive or superstitious, depending on circumstances — behind a fellow EU minister’s head.

A history of Italian quirkiness

There was the time in 2008 that Berlusconi jumped out from behind a monument in Trieste and shouted “cucù” (“peekaboo”) to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she arrived for talks — which he later declared was just a joke modeled after a similar trick that Russian President Vladimir Putin had played on him. 

There was his over-the-top admiration for former first lady Michelle Obama’s physique — which provoked more cringes than chuckles.

Then came Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who brought an exuberant “summit buddy” energy that reached its peak in his bromantic moments with then U.S. President Barack Obama. Every snapshot looked like a high school reunion or a pickup soccer team meetup.

Flipping the script

Meloni is in line with this tradition — but there’s a significant twist. She’s a woman. And that matters. Women in politics are usually expected to adopt a sterner demeanor, to avoid any risk of being seen as flighty or unserious amid a sea of grey-suited men. Think Merkel, former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, perhaps Queen Elizabeth, and currently European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — all have leaned into a stiff, armored poker face in international settings.

Meloni flips the script. She’s discovered that warmth can be a potent weapon — especially for a leader from a country with little economic, military or strategic clout. And it turns out that even the most powerfully dressed men — whether in suits, robes or keffiyehs — can’t help but smile back at a woman who beams at them first.

But here’s the real question: Which performance is the act?

More than that: This friendliness pays off. Even in Saudi Arabia, during a recent visit to Riyadh, the traditionally stoic entourage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman couldn’t maintain their usual reserve. Despite their deeply patriarchal context — where a woman is still legally under male authority from birth to death — they dropped the scowl and softened in her presence.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, technically a political rival along the left-right spectrum, greets her with a theatrical kneel and prayer-hands gesture in the rain — a recurring bit in their diplomatic encounters. Narendra Modi, the powerful Indian Prime Minister, happily joins in for a video-selfie with Meloni titled “Hello from the Melodi team” — a viral hashtag that scored over a million views. The buzz led to widely watched interviews on Italy, pizza and a growing obsession in Indian tabloids with the “diplomatic vibes” the pair seem to generate every time they meet.

To act or not to act

Critics dismiss it as “Commedia all’Italiana” — exaggerated expressions, theatricality, a slightly kitschy Roman style, used by a leader (born and raised in Rome) whose domestic record is patchy and who’s decided to bet it all on being everyone’s favorite abroad.

But here’s the real question: Which performance is the act: the booming, sometimes furious Meloni we see in the Italian Parliament; or the one who shares cozy whispers with a once-archrival like Macron? It’s a mystery, or as they say in Rome: Boh…