While it's a well-known cliche that you can find a Chinese restaurant in just about any city in the world, it was still interesting to see them in Rome and in Palermo, the capital of Italy's province of Sicily.

The Ristorante Cinese Hong Kong in Palermo serves Chinese dishes with an Italian twist. There's fettuccini con frutti di mare (noodles with seafood); capellini con pollo in brodo (chicken noodle soup); ravioli al vapore (steamed dumpling) and panini cinese (steamed bao).

In Rome, in Via Carfour, around the corner from the Roman Colosseum and many of the city's ancient ruins, can be found the Citta in Fiore Chinese restaurant.

On the same street, quite a few of the vendors selling souvenirs were of Chinese and Japanese origin.

I spoke in Italian to a Chinese woman who ran one such shop; she had been in Italy for several years. Of course I had to add a zai jian at the end of the conversation, which drew a smile. Another vendor I spoke to had been in Italy for 25 years.

It's not only businesspeople. When I arrived in Rome from New York and had to go through passport control, I would say at least 70 percent of the hundreds of people standing on line at that particular time were young visitors from China.

On Via del Colosseo, I saw a young Chinese couple who apparently were getting married, with the young woman wearing a beautiful qipao.

A poster at the airport in Palermo advertises Alitalia flights to Pechino (Beijing). It features three flight attendants superimposed on the Great Wall.

In February, President Xi Jinping welcomed his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella to Beijing.

"China welcomes Italy to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative," Xi said.

Xi called for more cooperation in technological and industrial innovation and in heritage, promoting the building of culture centers and language teaching in the respective countries.

Xi also stressed that China was willing to work with Italy to maintain world peace, development and stability through communication on global economic governance, multilateralism and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Italy is China's fifth-largest trading partner in the European Union, and China is Italy's top trading partner in Asia.

The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce was optimistic about Belt and Road Initiative-related projects, its chairman Sergio Bertasi said during Mattarella's state visit.

"A large part of Belt and Road Initiative-related projects will be in the Balkans/Eastern European area, which is an area well known to Italy and where Italian companies have great ties with local companies," Bertasi said.

"The Belt and Road Initiative could further leverage Chinese interest for investments in Italy, a hub in the ancient Silk Road," he said.

According to a January study by Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute for China Studies, between 2010 and 2016, Italy ranked third among European destinations of Chinese investments abroad ($13.3 billion) behind the UK and Germany.

"I recall Made in China 2025 as a formidable opportunity for cooperation between Italian and Chinese companies. Italy and China will equally benefit from the modernization of Chinese industry," Bertasi said.

Sun Yanhong, associate researcher on Italian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in February that the two countries "share a great yearning for works on innovation" as they restructure economically.

Italy needs capital, and China offers a market to help revitalize its economy, Sun said.

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com