“Security issues never discussed” –

“I have no difficulty in reporting the course of events, nor could I have any interest in hiding them. However, I cannot refrain from expressing with all frankness my great regret for an event that, without any responsibility, has profoundly disturbed the lives of many people, as well as mine.” This is how Gennaro Sangiuliano’s letter to the director of La Stampa on the Boccia case ends, taking inspiration, he explains, from the “photo of the meeting at the ministry on August 15 in which Dr. Maria Rosaria Boccia is confused with a general director of the ministry”, to “clarify”. “With respect to an undeniable media storm that has hit me in recent days, and within which it is difficult to distinguish authentic fake news from real facts that must also be brought back into the right dimension – the Minister of Culture then observes – I believe it is appropriate to provide my version especially on the elements of public relevance”.

Sangiuliano then observes that he had “matured the intention to confer to Dr. Boccia the role, free of charge, of advisor to the minister for major events”, having been able to “observe her professional and organizational skills also through her participation in public initiatives in which I took part. A role, I repeat, always proposed free of charge”. “After the first phase of investigation, accepting some doubts of the Cabinet on the possibility, albeit merely potential, of situations of conflict of interest, I decided not to proceed with the appointment and I communicated it formally”, explains the minister who also points out that “it is not the first time that the Ministry of Culture, like other institutions, does not proceed with appointments that had been examined. It happened in this case as in others and the curricular requirements of Dr. Boccia are not in question, which – he states – existed and exist”.

“During this time – Sangiuliano further specifies – Dr. Boccia has never taken part in administrative proceedings. I believe it is important to underline that never a single euro from the ministry, not even for a coffee, has been used for Dr. Boccia’s travel and accommodations”. As for the preparation of the G7 Culture “I find some clarifications necessary”, adds the Minister of Culture, pointing out, among other things, that her visit to the Archaeological Park of Pompeii “was not an inspection concerning the G7” and that, still on the subject of Boccia, “in any case the occasions on which she was present did not have an institutional character at all and not even in the broad sense of an investigation of the G7”. “Never – he clarifies – have security issues been discussed which, among other things, do not concern the Ministry of Culture but the institutions in charge, the Prefecture and the Police Headquarters”.