Top culture min' official quits after 'personal attacks'

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 23 - There was fresh turmoil at the culture ministry on Wednesday when chief of staff Francesco Spano announced he was quitting, saying he could not stay in the role because of a "situation that has arisen that is not without unpleasant personal attacks".
    Spano took up the role when new Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli was sworn in last month after former minister Gennaro Sangiuliano quit over a scandal regarding a would-be advisor he admitted to having an affair with - Maria Rosaria Boccia.
    Spano was reportedly under pressure to quit after Sigfrido Ranucci, the presenter of an investigative journalism show on State broadcaster Rai, said he will present two reports on new cases regarding the culture ministry next weekend.
    Daily newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano, meanwhile, reported that Spano had been insulted over his sexual orientation and his stance on LGBTQ issues and called a "pederast" in a chat group of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
    He had come under fire over accusations he funded an LGBTQ association accused of abetting prostitution while he was director of the National Office against Racial Discrimination (UNAR).
    The FdI member who posted the insults, a local coordinator for the party, was reportedly removed from the chat and resigned from his post.
    Giuli expressed "great sadness" at having accepted Spano's resignation, saying he had refused it several times.
    "My firm solidarity goes to him over the barbaric climate of monstering to which he has been subjected over the last few hours," Giuli said.
    "I reiterate my total esteem and gratitude to Francesco Spano for the outstanding technical professionalism and human quality demonstrated in various situations, including the Ministry of Culture". (ANSA).