Italy has been shaken to its foundations after it was revealed that the mistress of Italy’s culture minister repeatedly filmed herself with a secret camera hidden in her glasses in the corridors of power.
Gennaro Sangiuliano, 62, was on the verge of tears when he publicly confessed to having had an affair with fashion influencer Maria Rosaria Boccia, whom he broke up with over the summer after their passionate romance.
Sangiuliano said he met Boccia at a party in Naples in May this year, but ended their relationship between late July and early August.
In an apparent fit of rage, the 41-year-old mistress, a highly educated woman with two degrees in economics, has been publishing private conversations that have allegedly implicated Sangiuliano in a scandal of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.
She claimed her former lover had been using public funds to pay for his travels, provided her with confidential information and appointed her as a special adviser despite an apparent conflict of interest.
The minister publicly confessed to having had an affair with fashion influencer Maria Rosaria Boccia (Pictured)
Gennaro Sangiuliano (pictured, right) said he met Boccia at a party in Naples in May this year, but ended their relationship between late July and early August.
He said he used Ray-Ban cameras to capture videos inside the Palazzo Montecitorio, where filming is prohibited.
He was forced to apologize to his wife Federica Corsini (pictured, left)
Boccia appeared to back up his claim with audio recordings of phone calls with government officials, screenshots of airline tickets and photographs of programs from official government events.
She also used Ray-Ban Stories sunglasses, which have a built-in microphone and camera, to film herself at the Palazzo Montecitorio, where filming is prohibited.
The minister claims to have paid for most of his trips out of his own pocket and denied that his ministry had approved a consultant contract.
The minister said: “She did not have access to classified or confidential documents.”
But she also appeared to counter that, posting documents on Instagram that she said proved her participation in official meetings, site visits and consultations.
In an interview with Italian media on Wednesday, he tearfully apologized to his wife, Federica Corsini: “The first person I have to apologize to, who is an exceptional person, is my wife.”
Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano (C) cuts the ribbon at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, for the inauguration of the reopening of the Pompeian domus Casa dei Vettii, on January 10, 2023
Federica Corsini and Gennaro Sangiuliano at the 81st Venice International Film Festival
He also said he had apologized to his boss, Giorgia Meloni, who he said had rejected his resignation letter.
Meloni has not made any official comments on the scandal, although he said during a meeting on Wednesday: “We are making history and we must all be aware of that. This does not admit pauses or pauses, much less mistakes and missteps.”
His government has been hit by a series of scandals this year, with his tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, under investigation for alleged fraud and false accounting.
Meloni herself was forced to leave her long-term partner, the father of her daughter, after he was caught making lewd comments to his female colleagues at the television station where he worked.