Italian Minister of Culture resigns from his position due to an affair with an "influencer"!

Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano submitted his resignation from his position on Friday (7-September-2024) due to an affair with an influencer on social media.

Sanggiuliano wrote a letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni published by his ministry in which he said, "After thinking long and hard during these painful days (...) I have decided to resign permanently from my position."

Sanggiuliano is the first minister to resign in Meloni's government, and this comes less than two weeks before a meeting of culture ministers in the G7 countries from September 19 to 21, which Italy will chair this year.

He also announced that he would file a complaint with the public prosecutor's office to defend his "honor" and "prove my absolute transparency and that I acted correctly," without specifying who his complaint was aimed at.

"I sincerely thank Gennaro Sangiuliano (...) for the exceptional work he has done so far, which has enabled the Italian government to achieve important results in reviving and promoting the great Italian cultural heritage," Meloni said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the minister tried to save his job in a move that was widely mocked in the press, explaining the circumstances of his meeting with Maria Rosaria Boccia (41 years old), who in turn bombarded social networks with testimonies about their relationship.

The resigning minister admitted that it had "become a romantic relationship" last May, claiming that he had ended it between "the end of July and the beginning of August."

Boccia had posted on Instagram at the end of August her alleged appointment as advisor to the Minister of Culture for major events, which Sangiuliano was quick to deny.

Pocha responded by publishing photos of herself with the minister on several public occasions, as well as emails and travel cards.

The young woman responded to all the allegations made by the minister, a married man who appears without a wedding ring in some of the photos Pocha published, which further weakened his position.

In an interview on Wednesday, the minister, who held bank statements in his hand, confirmed that he personally paid all the expenses related to Pocha's trips with him and that not a single euro of state money had been spent. "The first person I have to apologize to, and she is an exceptional person, is my wife," he said.

He added, "I also ask forgiveness from Giorgia Meloni, who trusted me, for the embarrassment I caused her and the government."

Source - Al-Arabiya