The locations of previous summits to have been hosted by Italy include : Venice ( 1980 ) ; Venice ( 1987 ) ; Naples ( 1994 ) and Genoa ( 2001 ) . The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of world political leaders . The event has become an occasion for a wide variety of non-governmental organizations , activists and civic groups to congregate and discuss a multitude of issues . The Iranian government made a formal complaint to the Italian government about " violent suppression of justice-seeking protesters by the Italian police . " The Group of Seven ( G7 ) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries : France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the United Kingdom , the United States and Canada starting in 1976 . The G8 , meeting for the first time in 1997 , was formed with the addition of Russia . In addition , the President of the European Commission has been formally invited to summits since 1981 and participates in all but political discussion and talks . The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions ; and in fact , a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France 's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany 's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they conceived the initial summit of the Group of Six ( G6 ) in 1975
Genoa
27th G8 summit
35th G8 summit