'You'd get a million votes...': Italian PM Meloni's memoir recalls 2023 New Delhi welcome

Driving down the streets of New Delhi in March 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looked out the window to find her own face smiling back at her every few feet. Giant billboards bearing her image and the word "Welcome" lined the roads to mark her arrival for high-level bilateral talks and the 8th Raisina Dialogue.

By the time her official visit concluded, the signage had seamlessly transitioned to show the exact same image, updated with a new message: "Thank you for visiting." 

The exhaustive display left a lasting impression not just on Meloni, but on her accompanying delegation. In her newly released book, Giorgia's Vision — compiled from a series of candid conversations with journalist Alessandro Sallusti — Meloni reflects on the warm reception and the humor it provoked among her staff. 

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"My colleague Antonio Tajani, who was with me, joked: 'With all these posters, if you ran for the New Delhi constituency, you'd get a million votes'," Meloni recalls in her memoir. 

The anecdote serves as a central theme in a chapter titled "Head Held High Among the World Greats," where the 49-year-old leader argues that effective statecraft relies heavily on personal chemistry and moving past rigid protocols. She visited India twice in 2023, returning in September for the G20 Summit, during which her interactions and rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi frequently captured public attention. 

"A few witty words, a personal story, a common interest — it can make all the difference," Meloni writes, noting that small gestures and informal moments often lay the groundwork for trust between nations. 

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The memoir details several such instances where unconventional interactions cemented strong bilateral ties. Meloni shares how a tense, two-hour negotiation with Tunisian President Kais Saied shifted completely during an impromptu break. Standing on his residence terrace overlooking the sea, Meloni — who had recently resumed smoking after a 13-year hiatus — asked if she could light a cigarette. 

"He was overjoyed! He pulled out his own pack of cigarettes, and that coffee and cigarette break became our moment," she writes, explaining that some of her most durable diplomatic connections have been forged over shared breaks rather than around boardroom tables. 

Similar personal touches define her relationships with other global figures. She notes her spontaneous friendship with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who texts her frequently in fluent Italian, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who shares her appreciation for Italian wine and once gifted her orange roses on her birthday.

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She also recounts how former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida touched her by presenting a giant Hello Kitty doll to her daughter, Ginevra, and how Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki arranged a coffee meeting at a Lord of the Rings-themed cafe in Warsaw to indulge her love for J.R.R. Tolkien. 

Beyond casual anecdotes, Giorgia's Vision explores broader themes of leadership, national identity, meritocracy, faith, and family, presenting a modern perspective on global governance through a humanised lens.