Piantedosi affair adds pressure on Meloni government still reeling from resignations and referendum defeat.
Italy’s rightwing government faces a fresh controversy after a journalist revealed that she is in a personal relationship with interior minister Matteo Piantedosi.
Claudia Conte, 34, admitted the relationship with Piantedosi, who is married with two children, during a video interview with financial news website Money.it on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about rumours of a relationship with Piantedosi, Conte smiled and said: “It’s something I can’t deny, but I am very private about my personal life.”
The clip went viral , and what began as gossip circulating in parliamentary corridors escalated into a political controversy over appointments.
Piantedosi, 62, has chosen to say nothing publicly, in order not to fuel further speculation.
Who is Claudia Conte?
Conte describes herself on social media as a “journalist, host, TV commentator and social activist”.
Her most recent public appearance before the controversy erupted was last week in Milan where she presented her new book Dove nascono i silenzi. Among those in attendance was Lombardia governor Attilio Fontana.
In February, it was announced that Conte had taken on an unpaid, part-time role as a consultant to the parliamentary inquiry into safety and urban degradation in Italian cities and their peripheries.
Conte hosts a programme on Rai Radio 1, served as presenter during the worldwide tour of the Amerigo Vespucci tall ship, and has appeared at events alongside General Roberto Vannacci.
Political fallout
Prime minister Giorgia Meloni summoned Piantedosi to Palazzo Chigi on Wednesday afternoon, at the end of a pre-arranged meeting on security and migration.
Sources from Palazzo Chigi say he reassured her. Nonetheless, anxiety within the governing coalition remains high.
Those who have spoken to Piantedosi describe him as deeply shaken by the situation. He is said to have remarked: “I feel as though I’ve been hit by a train”, according to news magazine L’Espresso.
It has also been reported that the relationship had been known about for some time at the highest levels of government.
According to a report by newspaper La Repubblica, Meloni had been aware of the relationship since late 2025.
Questions of appointments
The Piantedosi affair has moved beyond the personal because of questions surrounding appointments connected to Conte.
In addition to the parliamentary consultancy role announced in February, the newspaper Domani reported that in June 2024 Conte held a position at the advanced training school for the police forces, which falls under the authority of Piantedosi’s own ministry.
Sources from the ministry told Domani that the minister had no knowledge of that contract.
Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), on Wednesday called for clarification from the government as it faces “yet another scandal”.
Stressing that “none of us are interested in [Piantedosi’s] private affairs”, Schlein told Italian political talk show Realpolitik: “The point, from what the press is reporting, is that this person was hired as a consultant by a parliamentary commission that happens to deal with security and the suburbs and therefore works closely with the interior ministry”.
Luana Zanella, parliamentary group leader of the left-wing alliance Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (AVS), called the revelations “highly opaque.”
She asked why Conte had felt the need to disclose a relationship that should be a private matter, and demanded that the minister explain on what basis various appointments had been conferred, including the parliamentary consultancy.
Sangiuliano parallel
Inevitably, the case has drawn comparisons with the Sangiuliano-Boccia affair which ended with the resignation of then culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano after a damaging controversy involving his relationship with businesswoman Maria Rosaria Boccia.
Last week the Meloni government saw the departures of embattled tourism minister Daniela Santanchè and justice undersecretary Andrea Delmastro, meaning that any fresh turbulence carries the risk of compounding instability within a coalition still reeling after its justice referendum defeat.
Coalition manoeuvring
Within the governing majority, some have speculated that the case could open the way for a cabinet reshuffle, with the Lega leader and transport ministry Matteo Salvini having long identified a return to the interior ministry as a priority.
However the party moved quickly to distance itself from such suggestions, stating it was not pushing for any reshuffle out of respect for Piantedosi and to avoid appearing to exploit the situation.
Meloni’s office has signalled that the matter is considered a private one and that there will be no reshuffle as a consequence.
Photo credit: Marco Iacobucci Epp / Shutterstock.com
