How smoking helped Giorgia Meloni build political bridges

Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni has turned even her cigarette into a diplomatic tool.

Transcript

00:00Italian PM Giorgia Melanie and Cigarettes go a long way back.

00:07To better understand their relationship, we need a flashback.

00:12Born in Rome in 1977, Melanie's father left when she was young.

00:15She was raised by her single mother, Anna Baratow, a writer of romance novels.

00:19At 15, Melanie entered politics through the youth wing of the Italian social movement.

00:24Despite no family name or political legacy, she climbed party ranks,

00:27organized rallies, worked as a waitress to survive, and by 2006,

00:31entered parliament, finding comfort in cigarettes along the way.

00:34In her book, I am Georgia, Melanie wrote that she used smoking as a diplomatic tool,

00:38as it helped her build a social bridge with other world leaders and politicians.

00:41Melanie wrote that she even stopped smoking too, but resumed it in recent years.

00:45In 2022, she became at least first female prime minister, whether it's the Melody hashtag with

00:50PM Modi or the Albanian PM's gesture of greeting her on the knee.

00:53Wherever Melanie goes, her expressions, namastes, and now even a smoking habit draw public attention.