Python skin shoes, Zelenskyy's iPad, and a sack of rice: Meloni put state gifts up for auction
Kyiv • UNN
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni put more than 270 state gifts up for auction, including python skin shoes and an iPad from Zelenskyy. The total value of the lots is about 800,000 euros, and the sale is due to a law prohibiting keeping gifts worth more than 300 euros.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has put up for auction over 270 state gifts, including python shoes, Zelenskyy's iPad, and a bag of rice. Meloni is forced to sell them by a law that does not allow her to keep gifts worth more than 300 euros; the total value of the lots is about 800,000 euros. This is reported by Bild, writes UNN.
Details
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has received many gifts from leaders of other states, which she has now put up for sale. For example, Argentine President Javier Milei gave her a statuette depicting himself with a chainsaw, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave her a porcelain coffee set from the legendary Hungarian brand Herend. Along with the set, Orbán, for some reason, gave Meloni not coffee, but six bottles of white wine. They are also on auction in Rome.
Other lots include blue python leather shoes with a gold heel from a Saudi designer, a gray silk scarf with photos of some 20th-century Albanians from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, a diamond necklace from Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev... There's even a bag of rice from the Prime Minister of Pakistan. In total, over 270 different gifts from all over the world.
Other amusing gifts include an iPad from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (as a symbol of an unbreakable bond), a skateboard from the city of Montesilvano, Alpine and Bersaglieri hats, and a piece of high-voltage cable from CERN.
The estimated value of all these gifts is about 800,000 euros. Meloni is selling them not because she didn't like them: by law, she cannot keep gifts worth more than 300 euros.