Shortly before Mr Sangiuliano was due to appear on television on Wednesday night, she posted an image of a bucket of popcorn, saying she was looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

Prior to being elected prime minister nearly two years ago, Ms Meloni made much of defending traditional family values.

But within her government, those traditional values are looking a little tattered.

She herself dumped her long-term partner and the father of her daughter after he was caught making lascivious remarks to female colleagues at the television station where he worked.

Her sister Arianna, a trusted adviser, recently announced that she was splitting from her husband, Francesco Lollobrigida, who is a minister in the coalition government.

The culture minister’s tearful admission of an affair reinforces the impression that members of the government are hardly paragons of virtue.