“Christmas is much more important than a headmaster being provocative,” Renzi told Sunday’s edition of Corriere della Sera.

“If he thinks he is promoting integration and co-existence in this way, he appears to me to have made a very big mistake.”

Marco Parma, 63, prompted protests from some parents and a media outcry by deciding to postpone the annual Christmas concert for primary school pupils until January and rebrand it a “winter concert” which will not feature any religious songs. ...