Italian city reveals its illustrious citizen: football star Lionel Messi
In search of publicity, the mayor of small Recanati, in the province of Macerata, revealed that Barcelona star Lionel Messi is an Italian citizen.
The mess happened after a ballot was sent that allows the player to vote in the European and municipal elections scheduled for May 26th.
Naturally, the event was featured in all the newspapers in Italy and stimulated the imagination of Italian fans.
According to Mayor Francesco Fiordomo, in 2010, Jorge Messi – the player's father – was in the city to collect his ancestors' documents.
Em interview with Corriere della Sera, in 2013, Messi said he had vague information about his Italian origins but had never visited Recanati.
Angelo, the player's great-great-grandfather, was born in Recanati and left for Argentina at the end of the 19th century along with hundreds of other Italian immigrants who lived in the city. Recanati has another 2.788 Italian-Argentine residents registered with AIRE – Anagrafe Italiani residenti all'estero (sector that controls the residence of Italians abroad).
The city is also home to another illustrious person: Giacomo Leopardi, one of the greatest Italian poets.
The mayor's revelation could result in a severe fine for the municipality. In accordance with the data protection rules established in the General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR), implemented in 2018 in all European Union countries, public bodies and companies are obliged to guarantee the privacy of available data in their banks.
