Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Piedmont Region President Alberto Cirio, and Mayor of Casale Monferrato Emanuele Capra at a Ceremony

FOREIGN MINISTER TAJANI: (In Italian.) There is the history of your family. Casale Monferrato is an important town in the Piemonte Region. But we have the history of your family in Casale Monferrato. Please.

MR CIRIO: Your Excellency, my name is Alberto Cirio. I am the governor of the Piemonte Region. Piemonte, as you know, is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The history of Piemonte is the history of Italy. Because Piemonte is the region where Italy was born, and Turin, our regional capital, was the first capital of Italy.

It was wonderful news for us to learn that you are of Piemontese origin, and I'm here to welcome you along my regional minister of health and along the mayor of Casale Monferrato. Today, they brought you the documents from the research we conducted in the municipal and church archives that certify your family history. Your Piemontese origins are a great honor for me. We are very proud of this, because the bond of friendship and the gratitude that Piemonte has with the United States of America is strong and firm.

So, we went - we want to have you as our guest in Piemonte, because Piemonte is your home.

MR CAPRA: Your Excellency, my name is Emanuele Capra. I am the mayor of Casale Monferrato. The documentary research recently conducted was thanks to the cooperation of the Diocese of Casale Monferrato following the emergence of the Monferrato origins of a branch of your family. This made it possible to reconstruct with greater clarity your genealogical connection to our territory, confirming that your ancestors lived, passed away, and still rest in our city.

This bond is one that you yourself have recalled with pride, helping to strengthen the sense of closeness which ideally unites your family history with the community of Casale Monferrato. In this context, presenting these documents to you constitutes a formal acknowledgment of this connection and represents a gesture of high symbolic and institutional value capable of honoring a shared history that spans generations and borders while further deepening the tie with the Monferrato community.

It would, therefore, be a particular honor for me - as a testimony of the profound bond that unites you to our roots - to one day welcome you to our city on the occasion of an official meeting. Renewing to you the services of my (inaudible) institutional consideration, I avail myself of this opportunity to extend my most cordial regards.

(The genealogical documents were presented.)

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, thank you very much. Grazie. It's a true honor and a very special moment to receive all of this information and to - it's an amazing experience, and one more reason to be back soon and to visit the region and to know it and to connect us to the past, and hopefully it also serves as inspiration of how we can work together in the future.

And - como bien sabe, hablo el español, muy parecido al italiano, y estoy practicando mi italiano pero se me - se me venció la suscripción a Babbel. Así que voy a - al sistema de aprendizaje.

I said my subscription to Babbel expired and I didn't renew it, so I have to renew the subscription to continue my work. But the next time I return -

FOREIGN MINISTER TAJANI: There are good teachers for you if you want.

SECRETARY RUBIO: It's very close. I mean, I understand it completely. I'll tell you, when we go to the meetings that we are in together, I don't even use the earphones. I know everything he's saying; I understand it completely. Now I'm just going to learn how to respond in the language because it's the - I need to learn a third language, and by far the easiest one. So, the next time I'm back and I'm in the region, I'm going to give a speech in Italiano. Huh? Next time. (Applause.)

FOREIGN MINISTER TAJANI: This book, this very important book, is the history of Roma. (Applause.) This is for you, because when you are in Florida, when you have a toast, you will remember Italy and your grand-grand-grandmother. This is - this is for you.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

FOREIGN MINISTER TAJANI: From the history to the international situation. Thank you very much.

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