On July 7, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao met in Florence with Italian Culture Minister Bondi and other government officials including governor of Florence province, president of the Toscana region, mayor of Florence and president of Florence province collectively.

Hu said that the China-Italy relations have developed stably since the two countries established diplomatic ties 39 years ago. In particular, the bilateral cooperation in the political, economic and cultural sectors has expanded rapidly since the establishment of China-Italy all-round strategic partnership in 2004. China attaches importance to developing relations with Italy and expects to broaden the consensus with Italy and deepen the pragmatic cooperation in various fields.

He noted that the Toscana region enjoys a long history and glorious civilization and the Renaissance emerging from here has made outstanding contribution to the development of the human society. The region has a developed economy and its industrial chain led by the light industry and tourism has sharpened its international competitive edge. Many regions in China maintain close cooperation with the Toscana region. More and more Chinese people now take Toscana as their tourism destination. He expressed confidence that with the joint efforts of both sides the cooperation between the Toscana region and China will achieve new progress.

Bondi and other officials all extended welcome to President Hu. They said that China is a country with a long history. They are excited about China's development and hope to reinforce exchanges with China and raise the bilateral exchanges at the local level to a new height. The Italian side will take an active part in the Shanghai World Expo and try to make the "Year of Chinese Culture" a success.

Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo were also present at the meeting.