The Spouses' Programme
Italy and Abruzzo are to host the world's most important Leaders for the G8 Summit, but their spouses will also be guests of the Summit in Abruzzo. The spouses' programme, which is split between Rome and L'Aquila, ranges from social and cultural encounters, to a visit to the areas damaged in the earthquake.
The Italian Presidency has also asked for the spouses of the Heads of State and Government Leaders to be granted a private audience with the Holy Father. Arriving in the Italian Capital on 8 July, their first visit will be to the city's Capitoline Museums. On the second day of the Summit's working sessions, the spouses are scheduled to travel to the Abruzzo regional capital to visit some of the sites and monuments destroyed in the earthquake, as well as a few of the building sites where reconstruction is currently under way.
The spouses are due to return to Rome on 10 July, the last day of the Summit, where they will be attending a conference on women and starvation in the world at the headquarters of the United Nations' World Food Programme. The G8 Countries, along with the European Union and Sweden which currently holds the European Union duty presidency, will be debating that very same issue on the same day in L'Aquila, together with another 39 guest countries and with representatives of the International Organizations.
