The Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, is once again at the center of controversy for a sensational gaffe made during his speech at the “Taobuk 2024 – Italian identity, cultural identity” event in Taormina. Sangiuliano stated that Christopher Columbus “did not hypothesize about discovering a new continent, but he wanted to reach the Indies by circumnavigating the earth on the basis of Galileo Galilei’s theories”. The historical error is temporal, in fact the Genoese navigator landed in the Americas in 1492, while the father of modern astronomy was born only in 1564, 72 years after the historic undertaking. Galileo lived until 1642, so it is impossible that Columbus based his navigation on the Italian scientist’s theories.
The precedent: the Times Square gaffe
The gaffe occurred during a public conversation in Taormina with the journalist Paolo Conti. The Minister, addressing the audience, confidently made the incorrect statement, demonstrating a shaky grasp of historical chronology. The incident was greeted with sarcasm on social networks. “Nothing, he just can’t handle America,” wrote a user on Twitter, relaunching the video of Minister Sangiuliano’s speech. This is not the Minister’s first gaffe when it comes to America. Previously, he had confused Times Square, an iconic symbol of New York, mistakenly attributing it to London.
