Photo Story: Italy and France make up over Corona Pizza controversy
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Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio (C); French Ambassador in Rome Christian Masset (R) and pizza maker Gino Sorbillo, in Sorbillo’s restaurant, in Rome, Italy, 04 March 2020.
According to reports, Di Maio invited the French ambassador for a pizza after French channel Canal plus broadcast a satirical video of a fake Italian pizza maker coughing on a pizza and calling it ‘Corona Pizza’.
The French comedian’s joke video about ‘coronavirus pizza’ went down extremely badly in virus-hit Italy, with Italian politicians describing it as “shameful and horrifying”.
Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio (C) eats pizza with French Ambassador in Rome Christian Masset (R) and pizza maker Gino Sorbillo, in Sorbillo’s restaurant, in Rome, Italy. EPA-EFE/CLAUDIO PERI
The French joke also bombed with Italian farmers’ association Coldiretti.
It slammed it a “stab in the back” for the Made in Italy industry, worth some €5 billion in exports to France, the second largest market after Germany.
The pestilent pizza ploy was a “petty and instrumental attack” on a market rival, it said.
The two countries historically compete on wine, cheese and bubbles, with Prosecco giving Champagne a run for its money.
