The minister stopped the train, which was running 111 minutes late, in order to continue his journey by car to the opening of a park in Caivano.
The government is trying to clean up Caivano, a town notorious for its inhabitants’ links to organised crime, after the July youth gang rape of two cousins aged 10 and 12.
Lollobrigida has been criticised by opposition parties and many in the media for allegedly using public transport for his private needs, though he has stressed both that the journey was for a public event and that no other passengers were inconvenienced.
“I was proud of him, he found a solution to get to Caivano, he went to work,” said Arianna Meloni, head of her sister’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) secretariat.
Her comments came upon arriving at its annual conservative conference in Rome, Atreju.
Asked if she had scolded her husband for stopping the Frecciarossa at the unscheduled stop of Ciampino, she replied, “Honestly no, not in this case no. In other cases yes, in this one no.”
ANSA
