ROME: The Italian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Russian ambassador following controversial remarks by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova about the partial collapse of a medieval tower in Rome, according to Italian media reports.
Zakharova sparked outrage after commenting on social media that “as long as the Italian government continues to waste its taxpayers’ money [on Kyiv], Italy will collapse completely: from its economy to its towers.” Her remarks came after the Torre dei Conti, a 13th-century structure once associated with Pope Innocent III, partially crumbled on Monday while undergoing restoration.
The incident left one worker seriously injured, while another was trapped under debris for nearly 11 hours before succumbing to injuries shortly after being rescued.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani condemned Zakharova’s comments as “vulgar to say the least,” calling them “shameful and unacceptable in a civilized country.”
“When there is a tragedy, you cannot speculate on people who are still under the rubble and on injured workers,” Tajani said. “We have never done so. When tragedies struck the Russian Federation, we have always shown solidarity.”
This is not the first time Zakharova’s rhetoric has drawn Rome’s ire. In February, she called Italy “the country where fascism originated” and accused it and its allies of “pumping the terrorist Kyiv neo-Nazi regime with modern lethal weaponry,” following Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s comparison of Russia to the Third Reich.
