Italian culture minister quits after affair scandal embarrasses Meloni government

Maria Rosaria Boccia, Gennaro Sangiuliano’s former lover, said she was nominated as an unpaid adviser last month

The Italian culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, has quit following backlash over a consultancy role for his former lover that had become an embarrassment for Giorgia Meloni’s government.

Sangiuliano, a 62-year-old former journalist, has faced a media storm since Maria Rosaria Boccia, a fashion entrepreneur, said last month she had been nominated as an “adviser to the minister for major events”.