Italy’s Minister of Tourism, Michela Vittoria Brambilla has demanded that Apple remove its iPhone and iPad application, “What Country” from its online store because it uses negative stereotypes to describe Italy.
The application sums Italy up with the words, “pizza, Mafia, pasta, scooters” and an image of a street sign which says, “Mafia parking only”. It is, of course, the Mafia reference that has upset Ms Brambilla, who says that the references are insulting to the dignity of Italians.
Ms Brambilla, who is tipped as a possible successor to Silvio Berlusconi, has asked Italy’s Attorney General to take legal action against Apple.
Meanwhile the application’s defenders are describing it as a “light-hearted and funny view of the world.” In the application Britain is summed up by the words, “tea, weird sense of humour, hooligans, rain” and the US with “melting pot, hamburger, American dream”.
How would you sum up Italy?
