The drama unfolded on September 4 on TG1, the television news show on RAI's main channel, the most watched in Italy. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Giorgia Meloni's culture minister, was seen live on air shedding tears as he revealed that he had had an extramarital affair and asked his wife to forgive him. It was a scene worthy of a soap opera, but which quickly took a political turn when the minister also asked for forgiveness from the head of the post-fascist government. Sangiuliano said he had submitted his resignation to Meloni, who refused to accept it.

For several days, posts on social media by Maria Rosaria Boccia had been widely disseminated. Boccia, in her early 40s and originally from Pompeii, claimed to be one of the culture minister's close aides. However, nobody seems to know her, at least outside the minister's inner circle. It all began on August 26, when Boccia posted a message on her Instagram account in which she thanked Sangiulano for appointing her "ministerial advisor for major events." This information was denied by the minister, who was obliged to reveal their affair publicly on air.

Just a few weeks ago, Boccia was still unknown to the general public. She has worked as an events organizer, especially in the fashion sector, and would seem to have had an official function in the preparations for the G7 culture ministers' summit scheduled for the end of the month in Pompeii.

The maelstrom of politics and romantic intrigue into which the minister of culture has plunged has not failed to bring to the surface his customary embarrassing remarks. A year ago, during the presentation of the Strega prize, Italy's major literary award, he confessed that he had not read any of the books in the selection, even though he was a member of the jury. Speaking in Sicily at a June festival on Italy's cultural identity, the minister asserted that Christopher Columbus had undertaken his circumnavigation based on the theories of Galileo – born 72 years after the event.

His every blunder has gone viral on social media – as when he placed Times Square in London – and reinforces the impression that Meloni is surrounded by amateurs. "It's inconceivable that the minister of culture should remain in office for a single day longer," argued an editorial writer in La Repubblica.

As the face of the new national narrative that Meloni aims to bring about, Sangiuliano called for the creation of a "new Italian myth," embodied in the revitalization of classical heritage in opposition to a culture deemed too predominantly left wing. "Dante Alighieri was the founder of right-wing thought in Italy," the minister boldly asserted.

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