The presidents of the National Council and the Council of States, along with Viola Amherd, Vice President of the Federal Council and Thomas Süssli, Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces, will attend the swearing-in ceremony of 23 recruits of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, held on 6 May each year in memory of the soldiers who died during the Sack of Rome in 1527. Their itinerary also includes a visit to the Swiss Institute in Rome.
The swearing-in ceremony takes place just a few days after the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Embassy of Switzerland to the Holy See, at which the head of the FDFA, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, explained that Switzerland's first diplomatic representation at the Vatican, set up at the request of the Federal Council, will further promote the existing strong historical links with the Vatican.
On Monday, 8 May, on the fringes of the celebrations at the Vatican, Mr Candinas will be received in Rome by his Italian counterpart, Lorenzo Fontana, President of the Chamber of Deputies. This will be the first high-level parliamentary meeting since Italy's general election held in September 2022. The main focus of the talks will be current bilateral and international issues and relations with the European Union.
The meeting is a manifestation of the mutual desire to maintain regular contact at parliamentary level, following the official visit to Bern by the former president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico and the meeting in Rome with the former president of the Italian senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, which both took place in 2022.
In Rome, Mr Candinas will be accompanied by the chair and vice chair of the Delegation for Relations with the Italian Parliament (Del-I), Greta Gysin (National Council, The Greens, TI) and Andrea Caroni (Council of States, FDP, AR).
During the bilateral visit there will also be meetings with Toni Ricciardi, member of the Chamber of Deputies and chairman of the bilateral friendship section with Switzerland; with members of the two chambers of the Italian parliament; and a visit to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations organisations in Rome.
Collaboration and contacts between parliaments contribute to the institutional dialogue between the two countries and are an important channel of exchange at bilateral and multilateral levels.
Switzerland and Italy maintain close economic, political, human and cultural relations. Italy is Switzerland's third largest trading partner. Italian nationals in Switzerland represent the largest foreign community in the country, constituting an important social factor in relations between the two countries and contributing, among other things, to the importance of the Italian language in Switzerland.