Relations between EU founder members Italy and Germany are at "the highest level of excellence" and the two nations are "fully attuned", head of state Sergio Mattarella said on Thursday.
"Ties between Italy and Germany are at the highest level of excellence, both in terms of bilateral relations and at European Union level," Mattarella said.
He made the remarks after a meeting at the Quirinale Palace in Rome with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is on a two-day official visit to Italy.
The two countries "are fully attuned on all the key international issues," Mattarella said.
Italy wants to work alongside Germany "in every respect" within the two organisations underpinning its foreign policy - the EU and NATO, Mattarella said.
"Germany and Italy are not only founder members of the EU but interpret its values and objectives with conviction," he stated.
"Both countries also feel the transatlantic bond deeply and Italy is interested in developing these two foreign policy cornerstones - the EU and the Atlantic Alliance - and cooperating (with Germany) in every respect," Mattarella said.
Mattarella also paid tribute to Steinmeier's "great sensitivity", a quality he said the German president showed in a moving speech last month at ceremony in the Tuscan town of Fivizzano to mark the 75th anniversary of the massacres of over 320 Italians there by SS troops.
In the speech, Steinmeier asked Italy's forgiveness for the World War II atrocity and warned against a resurgence of nationalism in Europe with the rise of far-right political movements.
