Italy’s culture minister offers to resign over infidelity scandal

Italy’s Culture Minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano attends a press conference to present a new project at the Imperial Fora (Fori Imperiali), on April 2, 2024 in Rome. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

ROME — Italy’s culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano on Wednesday said that he had offered to resign after being embroiled in an infidelity scandal, but that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declined.

Sangiuliano became caught up in the scandal last month after a woman called Maria Rosaria Boccia started posting photos on social media sites of her with the minister at various public events, as well as emails and airplane boarding passes.

She did that after the culture ministry had denied her public claims that it had hired her as a special advisor.

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The affair forced Sangiuliano to admit in a long interview on state television that his liaison with Boccia “had become a sentimental relationship” in May.

“The first thing I told her (Meloni) was that I was ready to resign but she told me to continue,” Sangiuliano said in the interview.

He insisted that he had put an end to the affair in “late July, early August”.

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He also shared bank statements in the interview to back up his assertion that he had paid for Boccia’s travel himself, denying claims that he had used public money.

“The first person to whom I must apologize, and she is an exceptional woman, is my wife,” he said.

“I also ask for forgiveness from Giorgia Meloni, who trusted me, for the embarrassment I’ve created for her and the government,” he said.

Opposition parties demanded his removal with Alessandro Zan, an official in the center-left Democrat Party, saying the affair “puts into question the government’s credibility”.