No, Rahul Gandhi Does Not Own the Italian Buildings in Viral Video
The man is standing at the Piazza Castello in Italy’s Turin, surrounded by state-owned historical buildings.
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A video of a man speaking in Gujarati while pointing to historical buildings in Italy has gone viral on social media. He goes on to claim that these buildings are owned by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his family.
However, we found that he’s standing at the Piazza Castello, or the ‘Castle Square’ in Italy’s Turin which is surrounded by state-owned historical buildings like the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama and other suites and cafes.
CLAIM
The video was shared with the claim,
“में इटली से एक हिंदुस्तानी बोल रहा हूं यह राहुल गांधी की बिल्डिंग है जो करोड़ों की नहीं बल्कि अरबों रुपए की है भारत को लुट कर इटली में इतनी संपत्ति बना रखी है पप्पू गांधी ने और मां सोनिया गांधी ने “
(Translation: “I am Hindustani speaking from Italy, this is Rahul Gandhi's building which is not of crores but of billions of rupees. ‘Pappu’ Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi plundered India and have kept so much wealth in Italy.”)
The video shared by a user on Facebook had garnered over 16,000 views at the time of writing this article.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On a reverse image search of one of the keyframes from the video, we found that the man was standing at the Piazza Castello or the ‘Castle Square’ in Italy’s Turin.
According to several travel and tourism websites, the Piazza Castello houses the Palazzo Reale or The Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, Teatro Regio di Torino (Opera House), Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library) and other hotels, shops and cafes for tourists.
Comparisons of the Piazza Castello in the viral video with photos on Getty Images and Google Maps can be seen below.
Let’s look at the buildings the man points to in the viral video.
One of the buildings seen in the background is the Royal Palace of Turin, which was handed over to the government’s Superintendence for Architectural and Landscape Heritage in 1955 and is now a part of the Royal Museums. It was also added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997.
Google Maps identifies the other buildings as the Piazza Castello Suites, the Abbonamento Musei, a place to get information and buy passes for the Museum, and the Region Piemonte - URP, the headquarters of the government’s Public Relations Office for the Piemonte region.
Piazza Castello Suites is a tourist hotel owned by the Castello & Luce s.r.l.s., a simplified private limited company.
Evidently, the man in the viral video has made false claims, which was then shared widely on social media.
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