Italian minister engineers unscheduled stop by public train

Italy’s agriculture minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, has been condemned by the country’s political opposition after a regularly scheduled high speed train made an unscheduled stop so he could disembark.

Lollobrigida — the brother-in-law of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — was a passenger on a train on Tuesday that was delayed by about two hours. “I’m Minister Lollobrigida, they’re expecting me at 2:40 p.m. in Caivano, I need to get off,” the minister allegedly told the train conductor, according to the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily newspaper.

Lollobrigida and his staff then got off the train some 20 kilometers south of Rome in Ciampino — a city not on the train’s schedule of stops — and continued their journey by car.

The Italian opposition has censured Lollobrigida’s behavior, accusing him of abuse of power.

“If Minister Lollobrigida really stopped a high speed train at a station on the Rome-Naples route and then got off, then continued by car, we are witnessing an unprecedented abuse of power. Ministers can use state vehicles but they cannot stop the trains for all citizens. If the news is confirmed we will ask in the house for Lollobrigida’s resignation,” former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.

His words were echoed by Agostino Santillo from the Five Star Movement: “For such an abuse of power, involving use of a public service for his own benefit, in a normal country, the minister should resign immediately.”

But Lollobrigida was unrepentant, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency, arguing that the train hadn’t stopped just for him — that other passengers could have disembarked as well. “I asked for something like any other citizen. And I’m not resigning,” he said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani circled the wagons on Thursday, explaining that Lollobrigida “was not going on holiday with his family but was going to Caivano … he carried out his institutional work, it was therefore a service reason,” and declared the matter “closed and clarified,” according to ANSA.

Trenitalia, the country’s main train operator, said on Wednesday that the extra stop had not increased costs or caused further delays, ANSA reported.

Lollobrigida previously sparked a national controversy in April with comments echoing the racist rhetoric of fascist Italy in the early 20th century.