--- title: Obamas Final State Dinner: Here's Mario Batali's Menu description: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and his wife, Agnese Landini, are joining Barack and Michelle Obama for their final state dinner canonical: https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-18T17:29:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:51:05.133Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here’s the Menu for the Obamas’ Final State Dinner og:description: The Italian Prime Minister is joining the Obamas for dinner at the White House og:url: https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a45bdf06510eb0/6988aa755f570f4c1cb22edb/ap_16292575108196.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4922 og:image:height: 2769 og:image:alt: Barack Obama, Matteo Renzi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s the Menu for the Obamas’ Final State Dinner twitter:description: The Italian Prime Minister is joining the Obamas for dinner at the White House twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a45bdf06510eb0/6988aa755f570f4c1cb22edb/ap_16292575108196.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here’s the Menu for the Obamas’ Final State Dinner > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=6fed147c-34f8-4a65-9776-2a9b43d92f3e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Obama Welcomes Italian Prime Minister to the White House [Watch (HLS stream): President Obama Welcomes Italian Prime Minister to the White House](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s19P2pWB.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2016-10-18. President Barack Obama called it a “bittersweet moment” on Tuesday as he and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the Italian leader and his wife for an official visit and the final state dinner of his time in office._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Oct 18, 2016 5:29 PM UTC President Barack Obama called it a “bittersweet moment” on Tuesday as he and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the Italian leader and his wife for an official visit and the final state dinner of his time in office. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Oct 18, 2016 5:29 PM UTC The White House is [welcoming](http://time.com/4534753/matteo-renzi-obama-white-house-dinner/?xid=tcoshare) the Italian Prime Minister [Matteo Renzi](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1880979,00.html) and his wife, Agnese Landini, this evening as they join Barack and Michelle Obama for their final state dinner. Described by the White House as “an opportunity to recognize the depth and breadth of our relationship with Italy and exchange views on the future of Europe,” all the stops have been pulled out for this high-profile event, with entertainment from the singer [Gwen Stefani](http://time.com/4273305/gwen-stefani-first-no-1-solo-album/) and food prepared by acclaimed American chef [Mario Batali](http://time.com/3362587/mario-batali-i-still-have-192-pairs-of-crocs/). Here’s what’s on [the menu](https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/italystatedinner%5F101716.pdf): **Canapés** **to start** The delicious-sounding dinner will kick off with an assortment of canapés including fish in a sweet and sour source with eggplant, roasted figs with pesto and little tubes of puréed crab. **A “velvety pasta pillow”** Next up is what the White House menu describes as a “velvety pillow of paper-thin pasta” called agnolotti, which is stuffed with sweet potato, nutmeg, parsley and sage (with sprinkled cheese on top). **Seasonal delight** The next course is a roasted butternut squash, chicory, pumpkin and sheep’s cheese salad, drizzled with cider vinaigrette. According to the White House, this dish “captures the taste, color, and texture of the season.” **A meaty main course** Now it’s time for the main dish, beef tenderloin layered with bresaola (air dried salted beef), cheese, parsley, garlic and breadcrumbs. It will be served with a rather extravagantly garnished broccoli dish. A veggie option will also be provided. **Sweet tooth time** The meaty main will precede a green apple crostata—in other words, an Italian apple pie. The pie comes with caramel sauce, toffee crumble and buttermilk cream. **Oh wait, even more dessert** As well as the crostata, each table of guests will be provided with a platter of seasonal fruits and vegetables, from both the U.S. and Italy. The dessert includes a pumpkin, milk chocolate chestnuts, grapes, green peppers and tomatoes. There’s also a “beehive replica” (whatever that means!). **And here’s the menu in full:** --- > “” --- ## Transcript Once again I wanna welcome Prime Minister Renzi and his delegation back to the White House. As we all saw this morning, Matteo's English is much better than my Italian. Michelle and I are looking forward to hosting Matteo and Agnese at tonight's state dinner, but as I believe our Italian friends say, prima [ FOREIGN ] [ LAUGH ] Which means first duty, then pleasure. Tonight's dinner will be a pleasure. Today, we're focused on our duties, our work to advance the security And the prosperity of our peoples. Mosul will be a difficult fight, and there will be advances and there will be setbacks but I am confident that just as Isis been defeated in communities across Iraq. ISIL will be defeated in Mosul as well, and that will be another step towards their ultimate destruction. We commit ourselves to work with the international coalition, starting in Iraq in Mosul, where Italian troops are supporting An operation to save the dam in Mosul. And we believe that it's fundamental, it's crucial not to succumb to the culture of fear. in the future we can not know what will happen but if there is a great inheritance left by the American dream, this is best way to proceed ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/"},"headline":"Here’s the Menu for the Obamas’ Final State Dinner","datePublished":"2016-10-18T17:29:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:51:05.133Z","description":"One of the courses is described as a \"velvety pillow of paper-thin pasta\"","url":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/","keywords":["Italy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a45bdf06510eb0/6988aa755f570f4c1cb22edb/ap_16292575108196.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26a45bdf06510eb0/6988aa755f570f4c1cb22edb/ap_16292575108196.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama, Matteo Renzi","caption":"Barack Obama, Matteo Renzi","creditText":"Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/","name":"Here’s the Menu for the Obamas’ Final State Dinner"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Obama Welcomes Italian Prime Minister to the White House","description":"President Barack Obama called it a “bittersweet moment” on Tuesday as he and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the Italian leader and his wife for an official visit and the final state dinner of his time in office.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/s19P2pWB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-10-18T19:00:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/s19P2pWB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4535276/president-obama-white-house-dinner-menu-mario-batali/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```