Italy’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Inigo Lambertini, blasted The Economist for recycling stereotypes about Italians on the cover of its latest edition. Focusing on the political chaos in Britain, it employed spaghetti and pizza imagery with Truss as Britannia.
Under the headline ‘Welcome to Britaly’, the cover features outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss dressed up as Britannia with a pizza shield in the colours of the Italian flag and a fork with spaghetti instead of a trident.
While stressing that he enjoyed reading The Economist, Lambertini said in a letter to the editor that the cover was “inspired by the oldest of stereotypes”.
“Although spaghetti and pizza are the most sought out food in the world, as the second largest manufacturer in Europe, for the next cover we would suggest you to pick for a change from our aerospace, biotech, automotive or pharmaceutical sectors.
“Whatever the choice, it would cast a more accurate spotlight on Italy, also taking into account your not-so-secret admiration of our economic model”.
British political turmoil
The dig at Britain’s current political turmoil linked it to Italy due to its high turnover rate of Prime Ministers.
The UK has been emulating Italy’s lack of stability in government, recently. There have been 4 chancellors, two home secretaries and two Prime Ministers in the last four months.
Whilst the Italian Ambassador was not happy with the stereotypes, Brits could be equally miffed at the portrayal of hapless Truss as the strong Britannia!
