A Quirinale Treaty between Italy and France, aimed at framing and re-launching bilateral relations according to the model of the 1963 Elysee Treaty with Germany should be inked in 2018, French presidential sources said on Wednesday ahead of Emmanuel Macron's visit to Rome.

Macron was due to arrive in Rome on Wednesday together with the leaders of other southern European countries for the 'Med7' summit.

Meetings scheduled on Thursday in Rome between Macron and Italian president Sergio Mattarella and with premier Paolo Gentiloni will serve "to launch of the work on the treaty", said the Elysee sources.

"The idea is of to have, on the basis of the positive experience of the Elysee Treaty with Germany, a brief and concrete framework for cooperation between Italy and France," said the sources.

"Cooperation that can still be improved to coordinate in a more organic and systematic way on major European issues....further developing cultural and official exchange as well as industrial cooperation."

This has already kicked off in commercial shipping and military naval sectors, and in the field of innovation since the Lyon summit of September last year, when the idea of a bilateral Elysee Treaty was first mooted by Macron and Gentiloni according to the sources.

France and Italy are also "working on" the question of possible joint cabinet meetings, as are held between France and Germany, the sources said.

The treaty could be signed in 2018 "on the occasion of the next Italian-French summit, which will be held in Italy," the sources said.