Italian Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano attended a literary festival in Taormina, Sicily, on Sunday. He convinced the audience that Christopher Columbus had benefited from the discoveries of another famous Italian, Galileo.
The Minister of Culture made a historic mistake
Gennaro Sangiuliano was a special guest on the penultimate day of the Taormina Book Festival – Taobuk. The Minister of Culture in the Italian government participated in a discussion on Italian identity and cultural identity. He was to talk about Italy’s influence on world culture, tourism and awareness of one’s own roots in the country. The discussion included the most important names in Italian culture and science. However, the minister made a historically interesting statement that has nothing to do with the facts:
Christopher Columbus did not expect that he would discover a new continent. He wanted to reach India by circumnavigating the Earth. He based this on Galileo’s theory, he said with unwavering certainty.
The problem is that Galileo was born several dozen years after Columbus reached America. These two great Italians are separated by over a hundred years of history – Columbus was born in 1451 and Galileo in 1564. The gentlemen had no chance to meet – Columbus was already dead in 1506.
The statement of the Minister of Culture received wide coverage in the Italian media. Sangiuliano’s political opponent, Angelo Bonelli from the Green Party, commented on the politician’s words that “he would like to buy him a history book, but he is afraid that in Italy there is a minister of culture who not only does not know history, but also cannot read.” . A year ago he stated that Dante Alighieri gave rise to right-wing political thought, for which he was also criticized: the poet was persecuted by a party that could today be considered “right-wing”, and his views would today be considered inconsistent with the current right-wing line promoted by by Giorgia Meloni’s government.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
