SAIS student Donatello Osti, Bologna Center class of '09 (and D.C. '10), shakes the hand of President Giorgio Napolitano. Photo courtesy of the Quirinale Palace

Thirty students from the Johns Hopkins SAIS Bologna Center met with Giorgio Napolitano, president of Italy, on May 6 at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. The palace serves as the official residence and offices of the president.

During the conversation, Napolitano remarked upon the nearly six decades of a close relationship and collaboration between the Italian government and the Bologna Center, which he said enhanced the academic, economic and political communities worldwide.

"Scholarships from the Italian government have enabled qualified young men and women to attend the Bologna Center since its inception in 1955," said Kenneth H. Keller, the center's director, who also attended the meeting. Italian alumni include several ambassadors and other officials in the highest levels of government and the diplomatic corps, as well as in economic, university and private sectors.

Napolitano, the country's 11th president, told the students that he had visited the Bologna Center throughout the years, including the celebration of the center's 25th anniversary and the 2007 dedication of the building renovation.

After their meeting, the students had the opportunity to visit many of the rooms of the Quirinale, which is not normally open to the public.

The students represented 14 countries, including Azerbaijan, China, Vietnam and Brazil, as well as Italy and the United States. Their visit was commemorated the next day with a photo and story on the Quirinale's home page (quirinale.it).

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