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US First Lady Laura Bush, leader of the official US delegation to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, arrived here late Wednesday for a three-day visit to Italy.
Bush and Barbara, one of her twin daughters, were to have a 20-minute private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Thursday.
The wife of President George W. Bush was then to have lunch with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the Villa Madama, a palace where government receptions are often held on one of the hills of Rome.
On Thursday afternoon she was to attend a conference at the Gemelli polyclinic on the battle against breast cancer, a field in which she has been active for years.
On Friday Laura Bush will visit the US military airbase at Aviano in northwest Italy before going on to Turin where she will represent her country at the opening ceremony of the 20th Winter Olympics.
Laura and Barbara Bush are to head back to the United States on Sunday.
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AFP 082349 GMT 02 06
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