On June 8, 2025, Facebook accounts known for frequently spreading disinformation (1, 2) shared a photo and information about U.S. President Donald Trump. According to the claim, the photo shows an Italian interpreter’s surprised expression after Trump allegedly told the President of Italy that the United States and Italy have been allies since Ancient Rome.
Trump’s quote about Ancient Rome is circulated without context, and the photo of the interpreter is not related to that statement. Trump mentioned Ancient Rome during a press conference where the interpreter was not present. He stated that the U.S. and Italy share a common political and cultural heritage that dates back to Ancient Rome.
On October 16, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office. Also present in the Oval Office was Elisabetta Savigni Ullmann, who interpreted Trump’s remarks for Mattarella during the meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, Trump emphasized the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and Italy, but he did not mention any connection to Ancient Rome.
Donald Trump (00:50): “We’ve had a great relationship with Italy for a long time, I don’t think it’s ever been closer than it is now. We have won a $7.5 billion award from, as you know — I guess it’s been pretty big news… For a long time, they’ve been taking advantage of the United States.”
During the meeting, the Italian interpreter listens to Trump’s remarks and takes notes. The widely shared photo simply shows her natural facial expression, which appears frequently during the meeting, and it is unlikely to be related to the content of the conversation. Moreover, as already noted, Trump did not mention Ancient Rome in the interpreter’s presence.
After the Oval Office meeting, the U.S. and Italian presidents held a press conference, during which Trump summarized the topics of his meeting with Mattarella and noted that America and Italy share a cultural heritage that originates from Ancient Rome.
Donald Trump (00:46): “The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome. Over the centuries, the Italian people have blessed our civilization with magnificent works of art, science, philosophy, architecture, and music.”
It is worth noting that the interpretation of Trump’s quote and the connection to the interpreter’s expression was also made in 2019 by Twitter accounts (1, 2).
Additionally, those accounts falsely claimed that Trump called the Italian president “Mozzarella.” In response to this circulated information, the American fact-checking organization Factcheck.org published an article confirming that the claim is not true.
Prepared by Shorena Gobadze
Myth Detector Laboratory
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