Italian culture minister resigns after love affair scandal

Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano resigned from his post on Friday after admitting to an affair with someone he tried to hire.
“After having thought a lot, in painful days filled with hatred against me from parts of a certain political media system, I have decided to resign in irrevocable terms as minister of culture,” he wrote in a letter sent to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in which he also thanked her for defending him. Meloni accepted his resignation.
Sangiuliano was on Wednesday forced to admit an affair with a social media influencer Maria Rosaria Boccia, whom he had tried to hire as a ministry consultant.
Boccia announced on Instagram she had the new role as an adviser for major events to the culture ministry — a claim the ministry itself denied. She also published pictures of herself on business trips with Sangiuliano, who is married.
In an interview with Italy’s RAI state broadcaster, Sangiuliano at the time insisted no public money was used to pay for his trips with Boccia and that she did not have access to confidential documents. He offered his resignation on Wednesday, which Meloni did not accept.
He will be replaced by Alessandro Giuli, president of the MAXXI Foundation, who will be sworn in Friday evening.