Sawt Falasteen - King Charles jokes, cites Monty Python at Italian state banquet

Approximately 150 guests sat down at the banquet inside the Quirinale Palace, home to President Sergio Mattarella, who saluted the couple's anniversary on their third day of a state visit to Italy.

"I must say it really is very good of you, Mr President, to lay on this small romantic, candle-lit dinner for two," Charles joked during his toast -- in which he alternated between English and Italian.

On the menu at the black-tie dinner was fresh stuffed pasta with eggplant, sea bass and fried artichokes, Roman-style.

Charles, who has made 18 official visits to Italy during his lifetime, cited longstanding Italian-British ties, from Roman times to today's vast Italian diaspora in London.

"There is, of course, the influence of the ancient Romans – who first landed in the South of England in 55 BC -– and, I suppose it is fair to say, were not met with exactly the warmest of British welcomes!"

"But I, for one, have never asked that question -– made famous by Monty Python -– "What have the Romans ever done for us?"

The royal couple's Rome visit has included a brief tour outside the Colosseum on Tuesday.

Earlier Wednesday, Charles gave a speech to a joint session of parliament, and he and Queen Camilla made a surprise visit to Pope Francis, who has been convalescing at home in the Vatican after his hospitalisation for pneumonia.

Charles and Camilla will on Thursday visit Ravenna -- a city once beloved of Lord Byron and known for its Byzantine mosaics -- as their last stop.

In his speech, Charles remembered famous family members who were similarly fond of Italy, including his great-great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

She had "clearly found great solace in coming to Florence and painting watercolours of the Italian countryside," Charles said.

Both Victoria's son, King Edward VII and his son, George V, had spoken at state banquets in the very same Quirinal Palace as Wednesday's dinner "over a century ago," he noted.

That was "proof of how our ties have endured, whatever the twists and turns of history," said the king.

"Let me propose a toast, Mr President -- here, in the Eternal City -- to the friendship between our nations, and the hope that this too may be eternal."

Q.Najjar--SF-PST