Italy that has more Cultural History and Artifacts than the rest of Europe put together, yet  is described on an Apple - "What Country?" App. as the home of "Pizza, the Mafia and Scooters".  The Application is described on the iTunes website as "a light- hearted and funny view of the world.".   It is as funny as describing Israel as : " Shylocks, Holocaust Remnants, Shekel Squeezers"

The application, which can be downloaded to iPhones, iPads and iPods, characterises each nation with words and images; Italy is summed up with a road sign which reads "Mafia parking only". 

Britain is characterised by "tea, weird sense of humour, football hooligans and rain", while Germany is summed up with "beer, discipline and autobahns". China is reduced to "overpopulation, kung fu, Great Wall, Tibet and tea ceremony", while the most defining characteristics of the US are "melting pot, hamburger and the American dream". 

The tourism minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, condemned the app as an affront to Italians' dignity, describing it as "offensive and unacceptable". 

She instructed government lawyers to take legal action against Apple and demanded that the application be removed from its iTunes online store. 

"Italy is a beacon in the world for its history, culture and style. I cannot allow our country to be discredited by having it represented by a criminal organisation," the minister said. 

"For this reason I have asked Apple to withdraw the application from sale on its online site and asked the state attorney's office to take legal action against those responsible for it." 

The application is described on the iTunes website as "a light- hearted and funny view of the world." "This is not a travel guide and should not be taken too seriously. Enjoy and have fun!" the website says. 

But many Italians failed to see the funny side. "This application is an outrage!" wrote one reviewer on the iTunes site. 

"Italy represented by the Mafia" whoever created this is ignorant and rude." ......

The row comes after a new Hollywood film starring Julia Roberts, "Eat, Pray, Love", was dismissed by national newspapers as pandering to the worst cliches and stereotypes about Italy, after it portrayed Italians as "always gesticulating and following foreign girls shouting vulgarities." 

An Apple spokesman in Italy declined to comment. 

Miss Brambilla, 42, a former beauty queen who is a close ally of Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, was embroiled in controversy during the summer when she suggested that Siena's famous Palio horse race, in which jockeys race bareback around a historic piazza in the Tuscan city, was cruel and should be banned.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/
italy/8032572/Italy-demands-Apple-remove-offensive-
What-Country-iPhone-app-from-its-online-store.html
 

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