The first lady’s time in her ancestral homeland will be packed with meetings, and will include a visit to the families of American troops.Īfter an audience with Pope Francis on Friday – to which she wore a black, leopard-print dress suit and a black lace mantilla down to her mid-back, attached to the back of her head – Biden is scheduled for a Friday afternoon tea with Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France.Īs she entered a café with Macron, the first lady told CNN her meeting with Francis was “wonderful. Her family’s origin story contributes to her growing up with Italian influence, something Jill Biden has credited in several interviews as the impetus for large, Italian-style Sunday family dinners – she has said the President likes her Angel hair pasta with fresh tomato sauce and her sons were partial to her chicken parmigiana. The Giacoppas lived in tiny Gesso, Sicily – a small village in the Messina province, which now boasts a population of fewer than 1,000 people. Guytano Giacoppa “Americanized” the family surname, as thousands of immigrants did, upon starting a new life in the United States. Her Sicilian ancestors are responsible for a historic note: She is now the first, and only, Italian American first lady of the United States.īiden’s maiden name is Jacobs, but before her great-grandfather emigrated to America – arriving at Ellis Island – it was Giacoppa. The first lady’s family has deep roots in Italy, and the Italian culture has long played a role in Jill Biden’s life. While he meets with leaders, discussing contentious topics such as the environment, global economics, possible threats from China and Russia and the pandemic, Jill Biden will handle a few diplomatic bilateral meetings of her own. This week, Biden returned to the ambassador’s Roman residence – a 15th century estate called Villa Taverna – this time as first lady of the United States, distanced several years from the tragedy of Beau Biden’s death and determined to support her husband on his first Group of 20 summit trip as President. For Jill Biden, Italy was a country where they could “escape,” as she described it, and the familiarity of the religious symbolism also served as a comfort to the devoutly Catholic Biden family. ![]() Instead, she took the helm and decided to bring the family to Rome for the holiday, seeking refuge at the United States ambassador’s residence, a source familiar with where she stayed at the time told CNN. It would have been – she wrote in her 2019 memoir, “Where the Light Enters” – “like a photograph with Beau’s face cut out.” Six months after the death of their son Beau in 2015, Jill Biden and then-Vice President Joe Biden could not bear the thought of going to Nantucket, Massachusetts, for the traditional Biden family Thanksgiving.
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