Italian minister close to tears on primetime TV as he admits affair with fashion influencer

Young lover given access to the corridors of power where she filmed inside government buildings using Ray-Ban smart glasses

Italy’s culture minister choked up on primetime national television as he admitted to having an affair with a fashion influencer who had been given access to the corridors of power.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, 62, appeared close to tears as he confessed to having had a “sentimental relationship” with Maria Rosaria Boccia, who filmed herself in government buildings using Ray-Ban smart glasses with cameras.
Mr Sangiuliano apologised to his wife and to Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, for having an affair with a younger female “colleague”.
The scandal broke a few days ago when Ms Boccia, 41, announced on Instagram that she had been nominated “adviser to the minister for major events”.
The minister denied that, saying he had initially offered Ms Boccia a consultancy role but then changed his mind after being told that it would present a conflict of interest because of their personal relationship.
He said he had first met Ms Boccia at a party in Naples in May but broke off the relationship between the end of July and the start of August.
Appearing on the verge of tears, he apologised to his wife, describing her as “an exceptional person” whom he had no intention of leaving, and to the prime minister for the “embarrassment” he had caused her and the government.
He made the confession on RAI, the public broadcaster, after being summoned by Ms Meloni to explain himself. He said she had turned down his offer to resign.
Mr Sangiuliano, a former journalist, denied that the affair had left him open to being “blackmailed”.
And he dismissed concerns voiced by opposition MPs that Ms Boccia had been privy to security details about an upcoming G7 meeting of culture ministers, which will be held later this month in the southern region of Campania.
The minister said: “She didn’t have access to classified or confidential documents.” Ms Boccia had only ever seen documents relating to “marginal” details of the G7 summit, he claimed.
Ms Boccia disputed that, publishing documents on Instagram that she said proved she had been involved in meetings, site events and consultations.
The story, described by one Italian newspaper as a “Greek tragicomedy”, has dominated the Italian press for days.
Ms Boccia claimed she had been appointed as a consultant by the minister and posted numerous photos of the two of them attending events, meetings, lunches and dinners.
The minister insisted that she had not received a single euro of public money. He admitted attending events with Ms Boccia but said he had paid for everything himself with his personal credit card.
As the mudslinging between the two became more intense, bizarre details of the affair emerged.
Ms Boccia said she had worn a pair of Ray-Ban Stories, smart glasses equipped with a tiny camera and microphone, and had used them to film herself walking through the corridors of the lower house of parliament, insisting: “There’s nothing illegal about it.”
Shortly before Mr Sangiuliano was due to appear on television on Wednesday night, she posted an image of a bucket of popcorn, saying she was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.
Prior to being elected prime minister nearly two years ago, Ms Meloni made much of defending traditional family values.
But within her government, those traditional values are looking a little tattered.
She herself dumped her long-term partner and the father of her daughter after he was caught making lascivious remarks to female colleagues at the television station where he worked.
Her sister Arianna, a trusted adviser, recently announced that she was splitting from her husband, Francesco Lollobrigida, who is a minister in the coalition government.
The culture minister’s tearful admission of an affair reinforces the impression that members of the government are hardly paragons of virtue.