The G8 summit may be graced by a new breed of political wife, thanks to Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni, but yesterday’s official programme was an old school affair as the spouses of the world’s leaders met in Rome for lunch, museum visits, afternoon tea and an audience with the Pope.

There was one exception: Sarah Brown ensured at least some advances in technology, if not feminism, by using the latest online trends to tweet and blog about the events.

The tour began with a visit to the Vatican, where Mrs Brown and her counterparts from Mexico, Sweden, India and South Africa were granted a meeting with Benedict XVI.

“Landed in Italy, and Gordon is whisked off to the summit,” posted Mrs Brown, username g8sarah, on her new blog. “I have the privilege of a second meeting with His Holiness the Pope in Vatican City, with the rest of my group (good to see the spouses from Mexico, India and the EU who are all friends from the G20).”

Mrs Brown, a former PR consultant, posted a similar message on the social networking forum Twitter, where she has more than 340,000 followers. She also posted pictures of the wives in St Peter’s.

Mrs Obama, who is on her first visit to Italy, will meet the Pope tomorrow at a private reception with her husband. Ms Bruni is due to arrive in Italy today. The wives had lunch with the mayor, Gianni Alemanno, and his wife, Isabella Rauti.

While her husband grappled with the challenge of climate change and hunger in Africa 90km (55 miles) away in L’Aquila, Mrs Brown blogged about the “chef’s signature ravioli carbonara”.

She wrote: “Here I catch up with Michelle Obama and next year’s host, Laureen Harper, of Canada. Thanks to the good food and good company I have to skip the museum tour as I am now running a bit late for the next event.”

The arrival of each convoy prompted cries of “Michelle! Michelle!” from parts of the international press pack, but Mrs Obama made a discreet entrance at the back of the building.

“I’m disappointed not to have seen her,” said Alison Victoria, a campaigner for the Americans in Italy for Obama group.

Ms Victoria said she hoped that the alleged conduct of Mr Berlusconi, who is chairman of the summit, would not lower the tone of the lunchtime conversation. “I’m sure they are all far too classy to mention it,” she said.

With that, she and her fellow campaigners rolled up their “Ciao Michelle” posters, and vowed to “stake out the Vatican” before the Obamas’ visit tomorrow.

In the meantime Mrs Brown told cyberspace about afternoon tea with Clio Napolitano, the wife of the Italian President.

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