The controversy over toilet paper at Palazzo Chigi, which Il Fatto Quotidiano denies: "No problems caused by the lorry blockade"

There is no shortage of toilet paper at Palazzo Chigi. On the contrary, “the storerooms are regularly restocked and hold ample supplies sufficient to last for months”. This is according to the Palazzo Chigi press office, referring to the “article by Giacomo Salvini and Paola Zanca” which “is even the lead story in today’s edition of Il Fatto Quotidiano: ‘The South is running out of everything. At Chigi, toilet paper’”. The article refers to an alleged shortage of toilet paper at the Prime Minister’s Office due to the lorry blockade, but Chigi describes this as “absolutely false, completely baseless and ridiculous. What has been reported,” the statement continues, “is yet another example of deliberate disinformation spread for political gain”.

The denial continues, and the tone becomes more contentious. "It should be noted, as further evidence of the total lack of fact-checking, that no journalist from Il Fatto Quotidiano deemed it necessary to make a phone call to the Palazzo Chigi press office to verify the story before publishing it. Nor was a single call made to Romeo Gestioni, the company responsible for supplies to institutional premises, which could have immediately refuted the claim.” Therefore, the statement continues, “we urge the publication to report accurately and to verify its sources before spreading false news that damages the image of the institutions.”

A Council of Ministers meeting is scheduled for 12 noon today to approve a decree-law bringing together measures to support the road haulage sector and provide further resources for the agricultural sector. Before the ministers arrive, however, Palazzo Chigi will gladly open its doors to reporters who are sceptical about the adequacy of toilet paper stocks. “We invite the authors of this masterpiece of misinformation to come to Palazzo Chigi this morning,” the statement concludes, “where they can personally check the stocks in the warehouses and perhaps realise just how ridiculous the alarm they have raised really is.”