Italian State Dinners at the White House

• January 14, 1964: State Dinner for Italian President Antonio Segni was hosted by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Featured entertainment included Robert Merrill of the Metropolitan Opera and the New Christy Minstrels. President Segni and his wife were given a silver box, engraved with maps of both countries and a sentence from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (“Italy remains to all, the land of dreams and a vision of delight”), as well as a 1774 letter from Philip Mazzei to Thomas Jefferson. The menu included crab meat Maryland, filet of beef, waffled potatoes, string beans amandine, endive and watercress salad, brie cheese, and mocha mousse.

• April 20, 1965: State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was hosted by President Johnson. Featured entertainment included American opera star Leontyne Price. President and Mrs. Johnson welcomed Prime Minister Moro with fanfare on the South Lawn. After a meeting in the Oval Office, the Johnsons took Moro on a walk through Lafayette Square and stopped for a lunch hosted by Secretary of the Treasury Henry H. Fowler at Decatur House. President Johnson remarked at the dinner: “It was 100 years ago that Mark Twain journeyed from the heartland of America to your country, Mr. Prime Minister, and in one sentence unveiled the eternal appeal of Italy. ‘Simply say,’ he wrote, ‘that the Creator made Italy from designs by Michelangelo.’ When the world was young, Italy was wise. The world is older now, but the wisdom of Italy is everlasting.” The dinner menu included Florida pompano called “Pompano Moro” in honor of guest, roast sirloin of beef, served with braised celery, and asparagus. Charlotte Russe was served for dessert.
• September 19, 1967: A birthday cake was served to Italian President Giuseppe Saragat as the State Dinner fell on his 69th birthday. As entertainment, Richard Kiley sang selections from “Man of La Mancha.” President Johnson said in his remarks, “When I greeted you yesterday I mentioned the great debt that our country owes to your country—that America owes to Italy—and to the millions of Italians who have helped to build America into what it is.”
• February 18, 1971: State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Emilio Colombo was hosted by President Richard M. Nixon. During his remarks, President Nixon quoted former President Woodrow Wilson, saying, “that the United States could not bear to part with the genius of the Italian spirit which has meant so much to this country in the past and means so much to it today.” Prime Minister Colombo’s remarks humorously referenced the dinner menu when he said, “I see here salmon from the Columbia River. I think I see something here. Then the filet mignon Potenza. That is where I was born.” Prime Minister Colombo also addressed the common bonds between the two nations, saying, “And we are deeply proud, Mr. President, to know and to feel how proud they are to be American citizens and also to see how deeply proud they are of their links with the old country. These are realities, Mr. President, which, of course, point up the depth of the bonds that link our two peoples. And I would say that these bonds are not only of a sentimental order but they are based on common ideals, they are based on the objectives that we share, and they are based on also the closeness that we feel in our responsibilities in sharing the cause of furthering the welfare of the nations.”

• April 17, 1973: A State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was hosted by President Richard M. Nixon. Following the dinner, slightly more than 200 guests gathered in the East Room to hear Frank Sinatra, introduced by President Nixon as “a man whose parents were born in Italy but yet from humble beginnings went to the very top in entertainment.” The singer was so moved by the ovation he received that he took refuge behind the bandstand and wept quietly. Taking place shortly before his return to performing after a temporary retirement, Sinatra sang many of his well-known songs including “You Make Me Feel So Young, “Fly Me to the Moon,” and “I’ve Got the World on a String.” After the performance, President Nixon told the audience, “once in a while there is a moment when there’s magic in the room- when a great performer, singer and entertainer is able to capture us all. Frank Sinatra did that tonight.”
• September 25, 1974: President Gerald Ford hosted a State Dinner for Italian President Giovanni Leone. Reassertion of friendly relations, including the announcement of tentative plans for President Ford to visit Italy. Before the dinner President Leone and his wife visited the National Gallery of Art, viewing Venetian drawings on display, as well as the permanent collection of Italian art. After dinner entertainment in the East Room was provided by Gunther Schuller’s New England Conservatory ragtime ensemble.
• December 6, 1976: President Gerald R. Ford and First Lady Betty Ford hosted a State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. In his remarks, President Gerald R. Ford said, “Historians point out that Thomas Jefferson, in writing the Declaration of Independence, drew on the wisdom of his Italian friend, Filippo Mazzei, in the drafting of several very, now immortal phrases. . . The very name America commemorates an Italian.” The Italian Prime Minister during his remarks likewise noted, “Your country offers us familiar images and echoes. We can see the classical aspects of palladian inspiration in your Nation's Capital.” The menu’s highlights included filet of red snapper meunière, supreme of rock Cornish hen, wild rice croquettes, zucchini with mushrooms, watercress and hearts of palm salad, and trappist cheese. To top it off, chocolate soufflé with vanilla sauce was served for dessert.

• July 26, 1977: State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was hosted by President Jimmy Carter. Entertainment was provided by Shirley Verrett, who sang Italian arias. During his toast, Prime Minister Andreotti read a list of Italian-American surnames of Americans lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Entrance Hall was decorated with baskets of plants borrowed from the United States Botanic Garden. The menu consisted of seafood cocktail, roast lamb, and frozen soufflé.
• January 24, 1980: President Jimmy Carter also hosted a State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga. Entertainment was provided by country and western singer Tom T. Hall. Meetings revolved around the upcoming Olympic games, and U.S.-Soviet relations. “It's not only in a time of crisis and trial and testing that we and the Italian people have been drawn together. We have much in common, as you well know, not only in times of current events but historical perspective. Our culture has been derived to a major degree from the great teachers, scholars, poets, of Rome. Every American knows at least one phrase in Latin, "E Pluribus Unum," and it came, as you know, from a poet, Virgil, in Rome.” – President Carter’s remarks at toast.
• March 25, 1982: A State Dinner for Italian President Alessandro Pertini was hosted by President Ronald Reagan. Frank Sinatra and Perry Como performed after the dinner. Talks emphasized Cold War relations and a commitment to fighting terrorism. President Reagan thanked Pertini for the rescue of Brigadier General James Dozier from the Red Brigades.
• October 11, 1989: President George H. W. Bush hosted a State Dinner for Italian President Francesco Cossiga. Virtuoso violinist Isaac Stern provided after-dinner entertainment. President George H. W. Bush remarked, “And for millions of Americans, Italy is the old country -- home of a proud heritage, a heritage written into every page of the history of Western civilization. The greatness of Rome was known, of course, throughout the world, more than a thousand years before our country or this continent was even known to exist . . . And so, let us raise our glasses to President Francesco Cossiga, to the Republic of Italy, and to the lasting friendship and love between the people of Italy and America.” Menu items included herbed mozzarella cheese shipped from Italy, medallion of veal Piemontese, cepes au gratin, and jalapeno gnocchi.
• March 6, 1990: A State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was hosted by President George H. W. Bush. Chief of Protocol Joseph V. Reed Jr. in describing the dinner said: “Italian style is the essence of style . . . Subtle, understated, and elegant, with a capital E.” Guests included Liz Taylor and Frank and Barbara Sinatra. First Lady Barbara Bush wore a white and silver Bill Blass brocade gown. The dinner menu consisted of a dinner of mushroom terrine primavera, truffle mousseline, crown roast of lamb, and chocolate truffles. Entertainment was provided by soprano singer Roberta Peters.
• April 2, 1996: A State Dinner for Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was hosted by President William J. Clinton. Clinton said, “In this century we have been treated to supreme grace on our sporting fields by athletes from Joe Dimaggio to Joe Montana. In the fine arts we've been blessed with the exuberance of Italians in music from Toscanini to Sinatra to Jon Bon Jovi. [Laughter] We have seen the pathbreaking innovation of Frank Stella in painting, and we have seen Italian after Italian after Italian grace the silver screen, from Frank Capra to this year's best actor, Nicholas Cage.” Menu included zucchini soup, lamb with basil polenta, portabello mushrooms and roasted peppers, strawberry surprise with lemon burned cream, and almond pistachio nougat in a chestnut gondola.
• May 6, 1998: President William J. Clinton also hosted a State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi hosted by President William J. Clinton. Menu included a tart of spring vegetables [Artichoke and fiddlehead ferns, mild lemon and wild leek dressing], grilled Alaskan halibut, coulis of fresh green peas, Gremolata risotto, Oregon morels, asparagus and fava beans, and a salad of Purslane and young greens, charred Vidalia onions, mango and avocado, with curried basil dressing. For dessert, there was “A Tribute to Bologna,” a peach cake with chestnut parfait in the shape of Bologna's leaning Asinelli Tower, with chocolate caramel sauce.
• October 13, 2008: A State Dinner for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was hosted by President George W. Bush. President Bush remarked: “The ties between the people of America and the people of Italy run deep, and the friendship between our countries has never been stronger. . . We're partnering to meet the challenges in our economies and expand trade and prosperity. And we share a vision of a future of freedom and hope for all the people.”

**NOTE: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited and met with President Barack Obama on April 17, 2015, but there was not an official State Dinner.**

Compiled by the White House Historical Association. Please credit the Association by its full name when using this as background material. Specific sources consulted available upon request.