The picture was generated by the satirical Facebook group, Virgona Finiamola Fate Girare (Shameful, let's put an end to this, please share), which makes comedic memes expressing mock-political outrage.

Last week, the group published a rare black and white picture of a bearded, long-haired Jim Morrison taken after he was arrested in Miami following a fight in 1970, with the following caption above the photo:

“This is Goran Hadzic, he has committed more that 50 robberies in the northeast of the country but every time he is caught he is released.”

Beneath it, they wrote: “ENOUGH! SEND HIM HOME!! RENZI OUT!!”

One member of the Facebook group, Piero Merola, then tweeted the picture to Gasparri on Saturday evening, asking him,”What do you think of this, the latest Italian scandal? Please save us from this government.”

Missing the irony of the post, the politician for the Forza Italia party, responded: “That is an embarrassment,” a response which was extensively shared and ridiculed across the Twitter-verse.

“The Vice-President of the Senate thinks Jim Morrison is a Slavic thief,” wrote an incredulous Nicola Chiappinelli.

The creator of the Facebook group responsible for the image, Claudia Vanco, said in a post via her LinkedIn page that the group's aim is to “poke fun at the creation of political memes and show how easy it is for people to be taken in by them because of culture gaps and a lack of investigation”.

The group was quick to thank Gasparri for falling for the image in a satirical message which they published on Facebook.

“At least all of our politicians aren't indifferent. Thanks to the Honorable Member of Parliament Gasparri!”