U.S. President Joe Biden will be in Rome from today to January 12 for an official visit announced by the White House and confirmed by spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. This trip, one of the last of his term, comes at a time of high international tension, with the crisis in Iran at the center of discussions and the need to strengthen the transatlantic alliance. Biden will be accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden and will conclude the visit on Sunday, January 12, with a meeting with the U.S. community in Italy. The U.S. delegation will be further strengthened by the presence of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will arrive in Rome a few hours before the President to attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quintet (the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy) on Thursday, January 9. This meeting, devoted to the situation in Syria, will also be attended by the European Union's High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas. Blinken will then attend Biden's institutional meetings with Italy's top leaders. The President's agenda includes talks with President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as an audience with Pope Francis set for tomorrow. The meeting with the Pontiff will focus on global issues such as peace, human rights and humanitarian crises, but cannot ignore hotbeds of instability in the Middle East and the need for a shared strategy to deal with the Iran issue. The dialogue with Mattarella will focus on European security and NATO cooperation, while the one with Giorgia Meloni will be watched with particular attention. The Italian Prime Minister has decided not to attend Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony next January 20, but has already scheduled a bilateral with the new U.S. President in the following months, a sign of a willingness to build direct dialogue with the next White House tenant.