Giorgia Meloni’s Italian Government is reportedly in talks to host the forthcoming cage-fight between Twitter owner Elon Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Rumours of the collaboration first began circulating at the end of last week, with Musk writing online that he had been speaking to Meloni and her Minister for Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano about securing an “epic location” for the fight.
In a statement provided to Brussels Signal, the Italian culture ministry confirmed that Sangiuliano had been in communication with Musk regarding the battle.
“We are thinking about how to organise a great charity and historical evocation event, respecting and fully protecting the places [chosen],” the minister claimed.
He added that both sides wanted to see the fight evoke the wonders of ancient Rome, although he added that the fight would not be held in the Italian capital itself.
“[The fight will] be an opportunity to promote our history and our archaeological, artistic and cultural heritage on a global scale,” the politician said.
As part of the agreement, Sanguiuliano added that “a huge sum, many millions of euros, will be donated to two important Italian paediatric hospitals”, although the exact structure for such a donation – whether it be through ticket sales for the event or a straight payment from bodies associated with the fighters – remains unknown.
The fight will be managed by my and Zuck’s foundations (not UFC).
Livestream will be on this platform and Meta. Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all.
I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
First proposed in June, news of the potential cage-fight came after several heated exchanges between the two tech billionaires and their social media companies.
Doubts remain as to whether the battle will ever take place at all, with Zuckerberg accusing the owner of Twitter (now X) of not being “serious” about the event, suggesting that it may now be time to “move on”.
“If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me,” he wrote on his new social media platform, Threads.
“Otherwise, time to move on. I’m going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously.”
Musk hit back, accusing Zuckerberg of being “chicken” by seemingly trying to suggest the fight is dead.
He has been keen to push a historic theming for the proposed fight, previously writing that “everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome” during the competition.
“Everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy,” Musk said, adding that all proceeds will go to veterans and paediatric hospitals in Italy.
