Italy’s Ambassador to the UK Raffaele Trombetta Speaks to T&G on Euros, Pineapple Pizzas and More

Raffaele Trombetta, Italy's Ambassador to the UK, has told Times Radio, Italy, not England, is football's natural home because of all the cups they have won. He also called out the Brits for their love of pineapple pizza, which according to him "is definitely not a Neapolitan, not even Italian way of making and eating the pizza."

In an interview on T&G with Tom Newton Dunn and Isabel Hardman, due to be broadcast in full on Times Radio at 11.30am, Mr Trombetta said despite the fact football was invented by the English, "it's coming home also if we win, because after all, you know, we have in our palmaris, as we say, four World Cups, already another European cup. So from this point of view, even if you started in England, maybe it has developed better in other countries, including mine."

Mr Trombetta was happy to praise the England squad, saying our national team had "some very fast players". He admitted he was particularly impressed with England forward Raheem Sterling, "the best one is Sterling from this point of view, he has been quite impressive I'd say all along with the championship, all the different games that he has been playing."

He also acknowledged that although both countries were particularly affected by the pandemic, the sport has managed to bring everyone together; "It's important after so many difficult months for the pandemic and for the tragedy that the pandemic has brought to so many families in England, in the UK, and in Italy. So it is good to have some positive things, you know, to, to look forward to. And it's a boost of course to morale, Being in the final and the bubble of winning, then the family is a boost of optimism, you know, to the country, which won't last forever of course. It will last for a few weeks, for a few months. But it's still a good thing to have."

Asked whether British holidaymakers would be able to travel to Italy without the imposed five day quarantine, Mr Trombetta was hopeful they could do so before the summer ends.

"I would hope so. We'll be following the situation in the UK and also in Italy. I do hope that at some point soon, we could lift some of those restrictions. But fortunately, at the moment, I don't have a precise date for that."

He added the situation in Italy is improving but "there is no room for complacency."

"Things are getting better, much better in Italy. First of all, the vaccine programme is progressing. We have distributed about 55 million doses, with more than about 22 million people double-jabbed. The number of new cases is slightly increasing in the last few days but still in the region of 1300,1400 cases. The number of deceased sadly, there are still people who are actually losing their life. But again also that number is decreasing yesterday, there were 13 deceased. So all in all, things are getting better, but there is no room for complacency. We are very careful about the Delta variant. And of course, we want to contain it as much as possible."

And finally, he agreed the Italian fans at Wembley were right to call out the Brits for the way they consume pizza. "The pineapple pizza is not an Italian way of eating the pizza. I'm from Naples so on the pizza, I do have some sort of experience. And actually, for us, there are only two ways of doing the pizza. I mean the original one of course but then there have been many more elaborations. But the pineapple pizza is definitely not a Neapolitan, not even Italian way of making and eating the pizza."

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