Libyan leader and sitting chairman of the African Union Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi is in Rome until 12 June for his first state visit to Italy. As per his custom, Gaddafi has brought an entourage of over 300 assistants, functionaries and servants who are staying with him a bedouin tent erected in Villa Pamphili. As a result, much of the park has been placed off limits for the duration of his stay.

Upon arriving, Gadaffi was received at the Quirinale by president Giorgio Napolitano. On 11 June, he meets with prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at Palazzo Chigi, in addition to a number of members of parliament at Palazzo Giustiniani near the senate.

Gadaffi was originally scheduled to deliver an address to the full house of the senate on 11 June, an engagement subsequently limited to a meeting with members of parliament at the nearby Palazzo Giustiniani as a result of concern from both sides of the political divide as to the propriety of inviting a leader of a country accused of numerous human rights violations to address a full session of the upper chamber of the Italian parliament. On 11 June he is scheduled to speak at Rome's La Sapienza University.

On 12 June Gaddafi meets with the president of the Italian industrialist's group Confindustria Emma Marcegaglia. After that he makes an appearance at the Auditorium Parco della Musica for an audience of over 700 women involved in business and politics including the equal opportunity minister Mara Carafagna and Milan mayor Letizia Moratti.

The heavy security surrounding Gadaffi's visit has been the cause of traffic pileups in and around the historic centre. In addition, a number of protests are planned beginning with supporters of far-left underground protest group