Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has long been Donald Trump’s most devoted European ally, avoiding any strong public criticism of the US president despite increasingly outrageous provocations.

But Meloni has now abandoned her cautious deference. In a fierce war of words on social media she has hit back, criticising Trump’s behaviour towards his allies and accusing him of indulging the enemies of the US and the west.

The prime minister’s fury was apparently triggered by Trump telling an Italian journalist on Friday that Meloni had “begged” him to take a photo with her at a recent G7 summit in France.

Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at Rome’s Luiss University, said the remarks were “totally unacceptable” to a prime minister who projects herself as “the politician who defends Italy’s honour and interests”.

“This attack was personal, implying a lack of dignity,” he said. “But she does not see this as some petty personal issue.”

“It’s a matter of honour, and honour, for a nationalist, is political,” he added. “It’s as if he slighted the Italian flag somehow.”

But Meloni’s retaliation in a video on social media, in which she said Trump’s report of their summit encounter was “totally invented”, comes as the Italian premier gears up for a re-election battle in which her close relationship with the US president has been an increasing political liability.

“Trump is electorally toxic in Europe, even on the right,” said Stefano Stefanini, Italy’s former ambassador to Nato. “Being in an anti-Trump camp now can bring her some electoral benefits.” 

On Saturday, Trump took to Truth Social to reiterate his claim that she “asked, over and over for a picture with me” at the G7, as he complained of Rome’s refusal to allow the US military to use Italian air bases for its bombing campaign of Iran.

“She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity,” Trump wrote. “Now after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up’. No thanks!!!” 

Meloni fired back, advising him to worry about his own poll ratings, which have collapsed, and suggesting that her alliance with Trump had been personally damaging.

“As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it,” she wrote, adding that her popularity was “none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.” 

While foreign policy is rarely a central Italian election issue, Orsina said that the spat would overall create a “positive image” for Meloni, offering a “silver lining” to an unwelcome confrontation that she had “desperately tried to avoid”.  

“The small woman leader of a way less powerful country that stands up to the bully — that’s a great narrative,” he said.

The public falling out is a dramatic turn in the relations between two leaders, who shared strong ideological affinities, and who initially forged a close bond based on Meloni’s genuine enthusiasm for Trump’s nationalist policies.

Meloni was the only European leader to attend his second-term inauguration, and the president lavishly praised the Italian premier as “a fantastic woman”, “one of the real leaders of the world” and “very beautiful”.

Such were the ties between Meloni and the Maga movement that Trump promoted the English-language version of her autobiography, which has a foreword by his son, Don Jr. US vice-president JD Vance wrote the foreword for her second book, Giorgia’s Vision.

But these close relations brought few benefits to Italians, whose exports were hit by Trump’s tariffs on the EU. It was the US-Israeli attack on Iran that put the relationship under severe pressure, as Italians reeled from the economic disruption of surging energy prices.

While Meloni still avoided directly criticising the attack, telling parliament that she lacked all the information behind Trump’s decision to go to war, Rome refused to allow US military planes involved in the campaign to refuel at air bases in Sicily, distancing itself from the highly unpopular campaign. 

After Trump called Pope Leo — a sharp critic of the Iran war — “terrible”, Meloni called the president’s attack on the US-born Catholic spiritual leader “unacceptable.” Trump then slammed Meloni for Italy’s refusal to allow US warplanes to use its bases, saying he was “shocked” by her and that she “lacked courage”.

Yet even then Meloni maintained a diplomatic silence, hoping to put relations back on an even keel at the G7. But since Trump’s latest insult, Italians from across the political spectrum have rallied around her.

“It was an unprovoked attack on her by President Trump and she had to react,” said Senator Lucio Malan, the chief whip of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party. “I think that most Italians approve of the defence of national dignity.”

Lorenzo Pregliasco, a founder of political polling agency YouTrend, said that Meloni had deftly utilised the opportunity to distance herself from Trump, who is “now kryptonite in terms of public opinion and popularity”.

Yet Pregliasco said Meloni’s response was more a form of damage control than a clear political victory. “She stayed very close to him even after many realised that Trump was pursuing an agenda that was not aligned with our European and Italian interests,” he said. “Now it appears more like Trump repudiated her rather than the other way around.”

Meloni’s government will also struggle to reshape its foreign policy, which has focused on maintaining close ties with the White House to boost her leverage with Brussels. Italy’s diplomatic machine is now working in overdrive in a bid to limit the fallout, or deter Trump from retaliating against Italy.

“Her international policy is in tatters,” said Stefanini. “Now she has to rethink it. But she has to be careful not to appear to flip-flop. People also remember her closeness to Trump, so she has to tread this very carefully.”