Vice President Vance, second lady attend Winter Olympics opening ceremony

The NBC broadcast briefly showed the Vances clapping for Mattarella and Coventry.

It was a part of a busy trip for Vance.

On Friday, he started his day at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, watching the opening session of the three-day team figure skating competition with Rubio and his family. He then headed to the Prefettura di Milano for a bilateral meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

"In the spirit of the Olympics friendship, competition - competition based on rules - and just coming together around shared values, we're very, very thrilled to be here, and we'll have a great conversation about number of topics," Vance told Meloni as the press corps looked on.

He said he had been excited to go to the Olympics in Milan "pretty much since I became vice president."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.