Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to visit Israel in June and the planning of her trip is underway, i2NEWS reported on Sunday, citing officials who spoke to the Maariv newspaper.
No official date for the visit has yet been set.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Italy in March and met Meloni, saying during the meeting that relations between Israel and Italy would develop significantly.
Netanyahu thanked Meloni for her friendship and added that “we appreciate both the hospitality, the friendship and the warmth that we feel here, and I can assure you that it will be deeply reciprocated on your visit to Israel very soon.”
Netanyahu spoke last month with Meloni after the death of Italian tourist Alessandro Parini, who was murdered during a ramming attack in Tel Aviv.
During that conversation, the two leaders clarified that Israel and Italy "will continue to cooperate in the determined and uncompromising fight against terrorism."
Meloni, who heads the right-wing Brothers of Italy Party, won Italy's national election in September.
The Brothers of Italy party is considered a far-right party and has drawn accusations of fascism and semi-fascism, though it suspended a candidate who had praised Hitler prior to the election.
Meloni herself has made several controversial statements, accusing Israel of carrying out "another massacre of children in Gaza” during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, but attempted to position herself as a more pro-Israel candidate in the elections.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a general statement a week after the Italian election, in which it did not mention Meloni specifically but rather wrote that "Israel congratulates the people of Italy on the end of the election campaign and looks forward to continued cooperation and friendship with the government that will be established and the Italian people.”
The statement added that "Italy is an important friend of Israel."
After Meloni officially formed the new coalition in Italy, then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulated her and said he looked forward “to working together to strengthen the ties between Jerusalem and Rome as well as in the international arena, including in international organizations and in everything related to the fight against antisemitism, in Europe and in the Middle East.”