Giulia Arena, a 19-year-old Sicilian-born university student with a Dante quotation tattooed above her heart, was crowned the 74th Miss Italia in this seaside town near Venice Sunday night. Arena's triumph was the first shown on independent left-leaning broadcaster La7 after State TV RAI dropped it following a long row sparked by House Speaker Laura Boldrini accusing it of feeding perceptions of women as eye candy. Amid talks on who would carry the show, Boldrini slammed it as sexist and anachronistic, saying: "only 2% of women on television voice their opinions or even talk.

The rest are dumb and often scantily clad". The 63 contenders responded by parading along Jesolo's seafront in T-shirts saying "Neither nude nor mute". One of the presenters, Neapolitan comedian Alessandro Siani, denied the show was a waste of taxpayers' money, telling the audience Italy needed to cut taxes, political corruption, bank aid and the influence of the mafia before "dashing these girls' dreams".

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Source: http://www.gazzettadelsud.it