In the interview broadcast by On air on La7 – Friday 6 September – the presenter Marianna Aprile asked Maria Rosaria Boccia: “What is your relationship with Minister Lollobrigida?”, and she replied laughing: “I don't even know him. We met on 5 August 2023, we don't have both phone numbers and we have never met.” A version denied by Boccia's own publications on her Instagram account, and the confidentiality used only towards the Minister of Agriculture is quite singular.
The first selfie, then a few months later the press conference alongside Lollobrigida
On 5 August 2023, Boccia actually posted a selfie with Lollobrigida on the occasion of an event on Italian cuisine. It was also the occasion of the first selfie with Gennaro Sangiuliano. But the relationship with the Minister of Agriculture did not end there. A few months later, in fact, Lollobrigida joined the parliamentary intergroup for the promotion of the Mediterranean diet promoted by Boccia and signed his adhesion in favor of the cameras in the press room of the Chamber of Deputies. He then explains the reasons during a press conference, sitting right next to Boccia who follows him attentively and underlines each statement with gestures and glances, also seeing Lollobrigida stumble over a quote from Hippocrates that would like to be learned. It is 20 December 2023.
The organization of the Beauty Festival with the help of two big names from Fratelli di Italia
A few weeks later, at the beginning of February 2023, Boccia reappears in the Chamber of Deputies for a press conference announcing the Beauty Festival that she herself organized in Sanremo during the Italian song festival and among the thanks for the organization come also those of Lollobrigida and her ministry. The president of the Beauty Festival, on the other hand, is a deputy of the Fratelli di Italia, Gimmi Cangiano, and the guest of honor is the Undersecretary of Health Marcello Gemmato, also very loyal to Giorgia Meloni. Italian chefs also participate in the Boccia event, organizing some events within the framework of the festival which are then also covered by national news.
The gift sent in February by Boccia to Lollo and which the minister seems to have appreciated
Immediately after the Festival, Boccia thanks Lollobrigida for the help she gave by sending a gift to the minister. Proof of this is a photo published by the same as always on Instagram. A note signed by Lollobrigida: “Thanking you for your kind thoughts, I send you my warmest greetings”. On May 28, Boccia again published a photo of herself with Lollobrigida regarding the intergroup that promotes the Mediterranean diet. But the image is not current: it is still relative to the event of the previous December 20. Relations are not as assiduous as those with Cangiano and Gemmato himself at that time. But it is not true that with Lollobrigida they limited themselves to that fortuitous selfie of August 5, 2023. And Boccia's choice to deny even what could easily have been verified by checking the material she herself published is mysterious.