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A photo of Matilde Siracusano retouched to accentuate her neckline, published on Facebook by the leader of Futuro Nazionale Roberto Vannacci, sparked a protest from Forza Italia. In the image, the Undersecretary for Relations with Parliament and Italian MP appears sitting next to Fabio Roscioli, centre-right candidate for the Chamber by-elections in the Reggio Calabria constituency, and Claudio Lotito, senator of FI and patron of Reggina. The image is constructed from other photographs: in the original Siracusano wears a white t-shirt under his floral jacket, while in the published version the clothing has been altered. Accompanying it is the writing: «The Reggio polling station is not a branch of Arcore nor the waste bin of national politics».
It’s a Saturday afternoon when a storm hits General Vannacci, yet another. Accusations of sexism come from many quarters. In the evening, the general’s clarification arrives: “To those who accuse me, without any concreteness, of having modified a photo with AI, I reply to try better and address the accusations, if necessary, to those responsible… When there is a lack of arguments, the attacks become personal… Go ahead and deal with necklines…”. Thus on Facebook the leader of Futuro Nazionale, Roberto Vannacci, publishing the link of a Calabrian blog, which had published the image generated with AI which included a retouched photo of Matilde Siracusano, Undersecretary of State for Relations with Parliament and companion of the governor of Calabria Roberto Occhiuto, next to the candidate for the Reggio Calabria by-elections Fabio Roscioli, national treasurer of Forza Italia, and Claudio Lotito, Forza Italia senator and new patron of Reggina Calcio. But it is not enough to calm the wave of protest.
Tajani: «The classic example of the moralist without morals»
The deputy prime minister and secretary of Forza Italia Antonio Tajani spoke on X: «The attack on Matilde Siracusano is vulgar and unacceptable and demonstrates the lack of political content on the part of those who devised it. Retouching a photo to try to ridicule your political opponent is dishonorable for those who preach respect for the rules. He is the classic example of the moralist without morals.”
Solidarity also from Paolo Emilio Russo, group leader of Forza Italia in the Constitutional Affairs commission of the Chamber, who denounces the use of artificial intelligence to “retouch clothes and discover colleagues”: “A completely disheartening intent and result, disqualifying first of all for those who tried”.
For Deborah Bergamini, national deputy secretary of Forza Italia, “manipulating the image of a woman in politics, altering her clothing and publishing a falsified photo, is simply unseemly.” And he adds: “It’s not humour, it’s not irony, it’s not an election campaign: it’s a lack of respect towards a person, towards an institution and towards the country.”
Carfagna: «An intolerable aggression»
Mara Carfagna, secretary of Noi Moderati, joins the protest, linking the publication of the photo to the political attack on the governor of Calabria Roberto Occhiuto, Siracusano’s companion.
«To mock the governor of Calabria, Roberto Occhiuto, Vannacci publishes a photo of his partner, the undersecretary Matilde Siracusano, with a deep, artificially created neckline. It is an intolerable aggression and an act of sexist bullying unprecedented in our politics”, says Carfagna.
“No one would ever dream of publishing manipulated photos of Vannacci’s wife and daughters to attack him politically”, he continues, defining the idea of the woman proposed by the leader of Futuro Nazionale as “unacceptable” and hoping for “a collective mobilization of women and men unavailable to retreat from a goal of civilization”.