US President Barack Obama's heritage has been a key piece of his political biography since he was first elected to the Senate, but the US leader apparently wishes he could add some Italian to the mix.
"I've said before, I'm not lucky enough to have any Italian ancestry that I know of, but I consider myself an honorary Italian because I love all things Italian," Obama told Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during a White House visit on Friday.
Obama's heritage has been the subject of intense interest with his uniquely American lineage as the son of a Kenyan father and a US mother.
Geneology website ancestry.com has conducted a survey of his family tree, pointing to his African, Irish and German roots.
But unlike some 17 million US citizens, Obama has no known Italian roots.
Obama has been both celebrated and reviled for his unique mix of ancestry.
Kenyans celebrated his 2008 election as if one of their own had won the world's top political office.
The Irish town from which one of his mother's ancestors emigrated welcomed him as a native son in 2011.
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