Last week’s cover page of the European edition of The Economist carried the image of a sinking paper boat made from a 20 euro note. Standing in the boat are, from right to left: the German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, the French President Francois Hollande, and the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and seated behind them is the President of the European Bank Mario Draghi trying to bale out the water. In the image, Renzi is shown with an ice cream in his hand.

Photo: La Repubblica

This satirical image immediately evoked cries of outrage from the Italian press and politicians: “Italy has been offended” was the general consensus. Matteo Renzi, however, far from feeling offended, responded to the “insult” like a typical fiorentino (person from Florence) … with an ironic sense of playful humour. On Friday morning, after the Cabinet meeting, Renzi walked down to meet the press in the courtyard of Palazzo Chigi, where he was greeted by a traditional ice cream vender that he had specially arranged to pay them all a visit. He then proceeded to offer the members of the press a real Italian home made cornetto.

As Renzi pointed out, the ice cream shown in the Economist’s satirical image was un gelato confezionato, that is, a factory made ice cream. However, he would have personally chosen un gelato artigianale, a traditional homemade ice cream. Che gusto preferisce? (Which flavour does he prefer?) Limone e crema (lemon and custard).

Here’s a transcription of his speech given a few minutes later to the press, in which he explains the reasons for his action:

Click on the photo above to watch an excerpt from Renzi’s press conference Photo from dissapore

“Buongiorno a tutti, buonasera anzi! Abbiamo deciso di … vedo l’entusiasmo della Meli*. Abbiamo deciso di, di … ironizzare e scherzare perché ho letto stamattina il taglio e il tono di alcuni offesi: ‘ah l’Italia insultata per la copertina dell’Economist!’ Ho letto dei commenti davvero, che ho trovato, … (mancanza di audio) … ma che trovo persino eeehhh fuori scala, eeehhh quindi ho voluto con una battuta dimostrare che … rispetto ai pregiudizi che l’Italia solitamente suscita eeehhh dobbiamo essere capaci di dimostrare la realtà dei fatti, per esempio che il gelato artigianale è sicuramente più buono del gelato confezionato, e che non ci offendiamo certo per considerazioni o critiche che arrivino da chicchessia, anche perché siamo assolutamente convinti che il lavoro che stiamo svolgendo in questi giorni, in queste settimane è un lavoro importante, serio …”

Il tuo gusto preferito, qual è? (What’s your favourite flavour?). Photo (CC) byPiano Piano!

“Good morning everybody, or rather good afternoon! We decided to … I can see Meli’s* enthusiasm. We decided to, to … be ironic and to make a joke because this morning I read the style and tone of some of those who were offended: ‘ah, Italy insulted because of the cover page of the Economist!’ I actually read some comments which I found … (lack of audio) … but which I find really umm out of proportion, umm therefore I wanted to demonstrate through a joke that … compared to the prejudices which Italy usually elicits umm we must be able to show how things really are, for example that homemade ice cream is undoubtedly nicer than industrial ice cream, and that we certainly don’t get offended by anyone’s thoughts or criticisms, because we are convinced that the work we are carrying out in these days, in these weeks is important, and serious …”

After all, real Italian ice-cream is famous throughout the world. It’s something that we’re proud of!

* Maria Teresa Meli is a journalist from the newspaper Corriere della Sera