It was 2014 when Giorgia Meloni, then only the leader of a new Italian far-right party called Brothers of Italy, was a guest on a television program called Quinta Colonna. She came in a hurry, hungry. In a commercial break she asked her assistant to bring her something to eat. She brought him a banana, but she still hadn't finished it when she was supposed to go live. It was then that a journalist who worked on the program, Andrea Giambruno, ran to snatch the fruit from her hand. "All I needed was Meloni live with a banana," he recently recalled to the Italian press. "I don't know what to say. Our eyes met in a strange way, it was a moment...”.
A few months later, they met again on a broadcast and Meloni sent him a message. Thus began a relationship from which Ginevra, their six-year-old daughter, was born. They are not married, despite the strong defense of the traditional family made by the winner of the Italian elections. But Andrea Giambruno, a 41-year-old Mediaset journalist, has all the numbers to become Italy's first gentleman, the consort of the first woman who, barring any surprises, will hold the position of prime minister in the country's history.
“If it is necessary to go – to state trips – and Giorgia asks me, I will gladly go. But I don't go out of my way for it, ”he explained, about his future role, in an interview on Corriere della Sera. In Italy, the spouses of the prime ministers do not have an active role as in the US, and if someone should have it by protocol it would be Laura Mattarella, the daughter of the President of the Republic who faithfully accompanies him in some official acts. But on certain occasions, they have had a certain role. For example, Mario Draghi's discreet wife, Serena Capello, debuted as first lady receiving Jill Biden on the occasion of the G-20 held in Rome.
The far-right defines her partner as a "fantastic father", who spends one week a month in Milan, but the rest of the time he works at night, so he can be very aware of his daughter when she deals with her political activity. He is the one who most of the time takes her to and from school, while she has a rule of always returning to Rome after meetings to put her to bed. "We divided, I'm not saying equally, but almost," says the presenter.
The couple, however, do not agree on everything. While she was formed by activism in the youth of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), he, Milanese, is not a believer nor does he share his ideas on issues such as LGBT rights or the legalization of drugs. "My partner is on the left," Meloni confessed in an interview in 2018. "It was a joke, I'm not on the left, it's just that we have different opinions on some ethical issues, such as euthanasia. I think that the State should reflect on whether it is appropriate for a person to die at home, with their relatives, or be forced to go to Switzerland to die, ”he explained to Corriere della Sera. When they are together they try not to talk about politics, although it is not easy, because the journalist follows all the talk shows on television. “I hope you vote for me”, the president of the Brothers of Italy even wished, without being completely sure.
Meloni is trying not to let her new media spotlight affect her family's privacy, especially in the face of her daughter, and has threatened journalists who try to photograph her with her lawyers. In this she has found an ally in Giambruno. He is extremely secretive on social media, unlike the partners of the other two leaders of the Italian right, Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi.
He has only broken the rule of discretion on one occasion, and to publicly defend his sentimental partner. It was last year, when Giovanni Gozzini, historian and professor at the University of Siena, made some notorious sexist comments against Meloni. Giambruno did not hesitate to condemn him on live television. “I am the partner of Giorgia Meloni, who is also the mother of my daughter. I am very proud of what she has done in her life, ”he assured. Without commenting directly on the teacher's words – who called her "cow" and "pig" – the journalist added: "I allow myself to say that there are minors who read certain disgusting things and that I will explain to my daughter how courageous and deserving she is." What has she done that is her mother?
