Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio on Tuesday welcomed news from Greek counterpart Nikas Dendias that Greece will gradually lift all restrictions on Italian tourists visiting the country by the end of June.
"I am pleased that our friend Dendias has reassured me that Greece will definitely remove any kind of restrictions or quarantine requirements for Italians by the end of the month," said Di Maio.
Dendias had also promised to "consider a reopening as soon as in the next few weeks, on the basis of the epidemiological data," said Di Maio, referring to the Covid-19 coronavirus that has ravaged Italy.
"Tourism both for us and for Greece is an economic sector of primary importance,” Di Maio said.
Italy - which earlier this year was Europe's epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic - has recorded a continuing downward trend of infections, deaths and intensive care admissions after it began easing lockdown restrictions in May.
Most Italian regions are showing either no cases or new positives in the single digits.
Dendias's announcement came after he held talks at the foreign ministry in Athens with Di Maio on Tuesday.
Rome had been angered by its exclusion from a list of 29 countries whose citizens Athens had initially said would be allowed into Greece from June 15 without compulsory coronavirus tests or quarantines.
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