George Clooney meets girlfriend's parents

George Clooney has spent the past week visiting his girlfriend Elisabetta Canalis’s parents on the island of Sardinia.

People reports that Clooney, who has been dating Canalis since July 2009, arrived at the small town of Trenuraghes on Wednesday, spending time touring the nearby sites and sharing a quiet dinner with Canalis’s parents Cesare and Bruna.

Clooney also posed for photographs and signed autographs for the residents, with one handing the 49-year-old a baby for a picture.

"He looked rather awkward with the 7-month infant in his arms," a neighbour noted to a local journalist. "But he posed politely and carefully handed the baby back."

The neighbour continued: "One of the older women there shouted, 'Ora tocca a te!' ['It's your turn now!']. Clooney obviously didn't understand, but everyone turned to look at Elisabetta. She simply smiled."