Italians Shout ‘Gorby Gorby’ as No. 1 Soviet, Wife Arrive in Rome

Thousands of Italians waving small Soviet flags greeted Mikhail S. Gorbachev today as he prepared for a historic meeting with the Pope and became the first Soviet Communist Party chief to make an official visit here.

Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti welcomed the Soviet president shortly after his Ilyushin-62 touched down at Leonardo da Vinci airport on a sunny Rome morning. The two leaders inspected an honor guard and a 21-gun salute rang out.

Gorbachev, in a blue overcoat and gray fedora, shook hands with a line of Italian officials before his motorcade departed for the Soviet ambassador’s residence, Villa Abamelek, where he and his wife, Raisa, are staying.

Thousands cheered Gorbachev as his motorcade traveled a short while later to the Renaissance presidential palace for a meeting with President Francesco Cossiga. Sharpshooters were posted on buildings along the route.

Crowds chanted “Gorby! Gorby!” and “Bravo, Mikhail, bravo!” A group of young people burst into the strains of the Socialist Internationale, thrusting their fists into the air.

“Gorby, you are a beautiful man!” one bystander yelled.

While not as effusive as the popular welcome given the Soviet president in other Western European countries, it was a rare public tribute to a foreign leader in the Italian capital.

The three-day visit comes just before the U.S.-Soviet summit off Malta. Italian officials say they hope to get in “the last European word” before Gorbachev heads into his talks with President Bush.

Gorbachev later joined a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in central Rome and went on a whirlwind tour of Rome’s famous sights, including the Colosseum.

His first contact with the Roman public was at the central Piazza Venezia, the square where fascist dictator Benito Mussolini once stirred crowds from his office balcony. Gorbachev smiled and waved as thousands cheered and waved plastic Soviet flags.

As the Gorbachev visit began, Amnesty International’s Rome office issued an appeal for the release of seven Soviet political prisoners, including one it said was detained for religious activities.

Gorbachev meets Friday with the Polish-born John Paul II in the first such encounter between a Pope, leader of the world’s 850 million Roman Catholics, and a Soviet Communist Party chief.

On the eve of Gorbachev’s arrival, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said the Pope would press for diplomatic relations with the Kremlin.