Italy's Culture Minister resigns following affair scandal and accusations of misusing public funds

Gennaro Sangiuliano gave an interview with Tg1 on Wednesday after accusations of using public funds during his affair

 ROME -- Italy’s Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano has resigned from his role in the Italian government on Friday, after a week embroiled by his affair scandal and accusations of misusing public funds. The resignation was submitted on “irrevocable terms”, Sangiuliano has said in a statement.

 Sangiuliano, 62, was one of Italy’s most high-profile political figures but caused controversy after being exposed for having an affair with businesswoman Maria Rosaria Boccia. In a post on LinkedIn, Boccia said she had been appointed as an advisor to “major events” in Italy's Department for Culture.

 On Wednesday, Sangiuliano gave a tearful interview on Italian TV channel Tg1 as he apologised for the relationship, rejecting accusations he had used public funds to finance Boccia’s trips or that he had hired the businesswoman, also his ex-lover, as a ministerial aide.

 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni aimed a veiled criticism at Sangiuliano at her Brothers of Italy party meeting on Wednesday, saying “mistakes are not permitted.” Sangiuliano is not a member of the party but is believed to have forged a close relationship with Meloni and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, which could explain why the Italian Prime Minister rejected Sangiuliano’s offer to resign earlier this week.

 In an interview with La Stampa on Wednesday, Boccia attacked Meloni for “sexist behaviour” and criticised how Meloni spoke about her “without giving me the dignity of a name”. The businesswoman also disputed Sangiuliano’s version of events, believing the ministry had paid for her excursions and suggesting Sangiuliano was being “blackmailed”.

 Sangiuliano handed in his resignation on Friday and, in his letter, mentioned the “hate aimed in my direction by a certain political media system.” The emergence of the affair is particularly damaging to the Italian government ahead of the G7 meeting between the world’s culture ministers in Naples this September.

 Sangiuliano has long been one of Italy’s most controversial figures and this latest incident is one in a line of political gaffes. In June last year, the culture minister admitted he had not read a single entry of the Strega Prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary competition, despite having a place on the jury. Then, at an international book festival in Taormina this June, he mistakenly said Christopher Columbus had based his voyages on the theories of Galileo Galilei, despite Galilei being born 72 years after Columbus travelled to the Americas.

 Following Sangiuliano's resignation, Meloni called him a "capable person and honest man" and thanked him for his work in the government.

 Alessandro Giuli, a former journalist at Italian newspaper Il Foglio and current president of the MAAXI Foundation, the foundation of the National Museum of 21st Century Art, has been sworn in as Sangiuliano’s replacement.

 

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