Gennaro Sangiuliano, former Italian Minister of Culture
According to an award show, the former Italian cultural minister is now the most memed person this year.
Memissima is an annual award show in Italy to celebrate the best of that year’s memes. Memes have become an incredible, versatile way of creating shareable online content. They are, in a way, a sort of art form. Their subjects can range from a simple comedic premise, to political and social commentary, to recognition of a broader cultural moment. Memissima’s artistic director, Max Magaldi, called memes “the most powerful contemporary form of communication”. Memissima was hosted in Turin this year between December 4th and 7th. The categories included political content, art and music, current events, sports, and others. There was a special award for the most memed character of the year, the figure with the most memes, cartoons, and caricatures dedicated to them. That award went to Italy’s former cultural minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano.
Sangiuliano was the main focus of many memes and other forms of content this year, primarily because of a scandal that led to his resignation. Sangiuliano hired Maria Rosaria Boccia as one of his advisors as minister of culture. Recordings Boccia had made later revealed that she and Sangiuliano were briefly involved in an extramarital affair. This also led to questions about whether state money had gone towards Boccia’s expenses. After the story broke, Sangiuliano explained that, yes, he had cheated on his wife with Boccia and hired her as a consultant, but no taxpayer money went to her travel or accommodations. Despite his insistence that he did not violate any laws or procedural codes, Sangiuliano resigned on September 6, 2024. Caricatures and memes, online and in established print publications, became one of the main ways Italians expressed themselves about the scandal and its fallout.
However, Sangiuliano was a popular topic of Italian meme culture even before news of the affair entered the media cycle in September. Despite his extensive experience as a political journalist, Sangiuliano seems to lack some of the communication skills necessary to hold a prominent ministerial position. In the two years he served as minister of culture, he became known as a “champion of gaffes”, as the Finestre sull’Arte editorial staff put it. He would often misspeak or fumble his words in small, incredibly noticeable ways. Shortly before the affair scandal, his Instagram page featured a post celebrating the 2500th anniversary of the founding of Naples. But it seems he and his staff mixed up a millennium with a century since the post implied Naples was only 250 years old. He also once claimed that Times Square is in London, and also admitted once that he did not read the book that he voted for to receive a literary prize in 2023.
At Memissima, the event played altered footage of Sangiuliano to create an acceptance speech for the award. In addition to the actual awards, Memissima also featured a variety of events, including discussions and lectures about the role of memes in the arts and contemporary culture, including communications, comedy, activism, public relations, etc.