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ROME — When the Egyptian Museum in the northern Italian city of Turin began offering two-for-one admissions for Arabic speakers last month, the offer seemed innocuous enough.

After all, the artifacts in the museum, one of the largest collections outside Cairo, originated in Egypt, which is now the world’s largest Arab country.

But in Italy’s heated campaign before national elections on March 4, nothing, it seems, is ever so straightforward. That is especially so if the issue touches even tangentially on immigration.

The Brothers of Italy, a small but vocal far-right party that is a member of the coalition headed by Silvio Berlusconi, took offense at the offer for “discriminating against Italians” and staged a protest on Friday.

Italy’s Arianna Fontana won a dramatic Olympic women’s 500 meters race on Tuesday after a photo finish with home favorite Choi Minjeong who was later disqualified.

The leader of Italy’s anti-immigrant League party has been accused of cultivating “dangerous connections” to the Kremlin and to discredited political figures from southern Italy.

The heel of Italy seems to be tip-toeing into stardom. Some have even gone down the ‘Puglia is the new Tuscany’ route, which is misleading.