Two Italian aid workers abducted in northern Syria last summer arrived in Rome at dawn today, a day after they were released.
The flight carrying Greta Ramelli, 20, and Vanessa Marzullo, 21, from Turkey landed at Ciampino military airport near the Italian capital at 4:00 am (0300 GMT).
The two women were welcomed by Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and, in the absence of their loved ones, descended from the plane without much display of emotion.
The women were rushed into the airport hall without a word or even a nod towards the waiting media personnel.
They were to be taken to hospital for a checkup and then to see Rome s anti-terrorist prosecution office, which has opened an investigation into their abduction.
The women, from Lombardy in northern Italy, disappeared on July 31 near Aleppo in northern Syria three days after they arrived from Turkey.
It is not clear what they were doing there to begin with.