For one fleeting day this week, University of Guelph professor Francesco Braga thought he was the Italian government’s new junior minister for agriculture.

So did the Italian government.

But by Wednesday, it all seemed an embarrassing blunder, hooked to a case of parallel names.

Braga, 53, told the Star on Thursday that the turn of events has been “very peculiar.” The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera called it a “comedy of errors.”

The comedy started with a “terse email from the minister of agriculture in Rome” to Braga in the wee hours of Tuesday as he sat in his Guelph basement marking papers, telling him to call. Then he saw his picture with the announcement from the office of new Prime Minister Mario Monti, declaring Braga the new junior minister, he said.

Agriculture Minister Mario Catania was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying he didn’t know Braga personally, but knew he was a business professor at the University of Guelph who would bring “value added.”

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God.’ I replied to their email. Suddenly, there is a flood of emails from friends, foes and industry associations, all kinds of important players in Italian agribusiness, congratulating me. So I thought, ‘Okay, it must be true.’”

Braga, who has lived in Canada for 28 years and earned his Ph.D. as an agronomist from Guelph, figured he would certainly be qualified. He teaches in the MBA for agribusiness program, as well as a course in derivatives at the business school.

Then a telephone back-and-forth started, first with the minister’s office saying it might be a mistake, then with the Prime Minister’s Office asking Braga if he was really the new junior minister, then a demand to get to Rome immediately for the swearing-in at Quirinale Palace.

The Italian media all did interviews.

The next phone call was an apology. Regrettably, the Prime Minister’s office told Braga it was a mistake. They had meant to appoint Franco Braga, a civil engineer with expertise in earthquakes who’d been recommended for the infrastructure ministry and then shuffled to agriculture.

Corriere della Sera pointed out Thursday that Francesco Braga was exactly the kind of economist and technical support Catania and Italy needed in the ministry. Franco Braga was not.

And Franco Braga appeared none too pleased and unwilling to accept, the Canadian Braga said.

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“As of today, the guy has not been sworn in. The media can’t find him.”

The Prime Minister’s office explained briefly Thursday: “Everything is as it should be. He (Franco Braga) will be sworn in in a few days.”