From the Sanremo Festival to the friendship with Amadeus, from Pippo Baudo's idol at the beginning of his career, from the memory of Silvio Berlusconi to that of Mike Bongiorno and Maurizio Costanzo. Fiorello at 360 degrees in an interview with the director of Tg1, Gian Marco Chiocci, about “Stasera I speak”.
Pippo Baudo “was and is a reference point for all Sicilians who have embarked on this career. Pippo Baudo is Pippo Baudo, for us celebrating his birthday is like Christmas. I had the honor of getting to know him and being his friend,” says the showman. “He told me that I needed to do something different, in the sense that I wasn't a three-minute artist. 'In three minutes you'll just say your name,' were his words. 'And I need people in three minutes.' Put on a show for me. You need a whole program, but I’m already in this program,” Baudo told me at the time.
“Despite my 40-year career, I'm always afraid of interviews, I think I'm being banal, inadequate or always saying the same thing. While the interviewer is asking me the question, I'm already racking my brains over how to answer it, also because. “Today, with political correctness, everything is becoming more difficult, you have to measure your words,” he says, jokingly admitting that he “already has a sweaty mustache” from fear.
And he admits that the things that make him smile are life events, like when he sees the viewer “with all white hair” who tells me, “My husband brought me here as a birthday present.” And I say to her, “Mrs. 'But how cute is she, how old is she?' And she: “60”. But how? I'm 64! You get older and don't realize it, you always see people as if they are a little older than you, but they aren't! And that made me laugh…”.
“The things that don't make me laugh, however, are the stories we hear on the news or read in the newspapers, like the wars and femicides that have been talked about so much. It's the things we did in 'Viva Rai2!' We try to leave out news that darkens our lives. That's why we never talk about it in the morning, because we like to be that little window of good mood that lasts for 45 minutes, and then after those 45 minutes we talk, “I'm going to deal with these topics for the rest of the day,” saying Fiorello.
“My first Sanremo was one of the worst moments of my life. I was working at Radio DJ and was supposed to be giving interviews and while I was there the news arrived of the death of my father, who was still very young, he was 58 years old. “Years old,” he says while reading the memory album leafs through it and they talk about the Sanremo Festival in 1990, when they told him on the phone that his father Nicola had died. “Now I am older than my father was when he left and it seems very strange to me,” admits the showman.
Amadeus and Pippo Baudo, two champions
Another festival in just over a month. “Amadeus has restored the Sanremo Festival to the splendor of Baudism, a fact recognized by everyone, even Pippo Baudo himself,” he says. “Is this the last Sanremo of Amadeus? Yes, now the last of the series, but in my opinion it will be back in two years …” And when Chiocci asks if there were any disagreements with the host and artistic director of the festival, Fiorello answers clearly: “Arguing with Amadeus? Never argued, you can't argue with him… There is an alchemy that was born from the beginning.” Day we saw each other, love at first sight, friendship.”
The showman talks about the experience of the festival without an audience in 2021, during the pandemic: “It was difficult – he admits – and the most complicated role was mine because Ama had to present the singers and I had to entertain… but.” Who? I had to imagine the audience at home and I can assure you it was difficult. But I'm glad I did it, it's something that will stay with me. I remember saying to Amadeus, 'I'll start by singing'. And so I go downstairs, start singing and see the empty audience. When I finish singing, the silence… just at the moment when you're used to hearing applause. Well, that was the worst split second of my career,” reveals Fiorello.
As for the 2024 edition: “I only know one thing,” says the showman, that there will be the “Viva Rai2!” glass. outside the Ariston and I will have the opportunity to enter the theater but not go on stage. We made a rule because I have to go on stage on Saturday, the last night of the festival and the last night of the Amadeus Festival. when I go on stage to take him with me. So until then I can enter the room, but there will be signs on the stage saying, “I can't face up.” I'll manage to get to the top. I'll go down the stairs, but I won't go down and I will be able to go to the stalls but not go up to the stage. Amadeus, on the other hand, can come down as artistic director, walk through the audience and come to me inside the glass, where there may be guests he doesn't know about, even crazy guests even from festivals, but I will have them. Who knows…” Fiorello says again.
Rewinding the tape: “Of the missing characters, I miss Mike Bongiorno and Maurizio Costanzo the most, I had the most to do with them,” he admits. “Costanzo was crucial to the change in my life, he welcomed me when I decided to come from Milan to Rome. On this occasion I met Susanna (Susanna Biondo, wife of the showman, editor's note) and Costanzo said to me: 'Don' 'I'm not going to run away, am I?' I worked with Mike a lot and he had fun like a kid,” recalls Fiorello, who admits: “I don't regret my decisions, I would do it all again.”
Fiorello talks about his daughter Angelica, who sang “Io vagabondo” on “Viva Rai2!” on the occasion of her father's 63rd birthday and moved him: “It's not an easy time for children of her age, because today's 17-year-old… . Old people are like 14-year-olds before the pandemic. Sometimes we talk about violent teenagers and in my opinion it can all be traced back to these two years of the pandemic. For us who are of a certain age, two years is nothing more than for a 14-year-old, it is a lifetime.”
Fiorello and politics
“What if I were asked to go into politics? When I was in Milan, yes, Berlusconi was there at the time, we worked with him, so it happened,” he reveals, adding: “I wouldn't be able to do that.” “.
Fiorello doesn't say much about his relationship to politics: “I belong to the old guard, although I would like to compare myself with these greats,” he notes, “but back then we didn't know who Walter Chiari was voting for.” I want to do entertainment, not politics.” And when Chiocci asks him who he's voting for, Fiorello laughs: “I'll never tell you. Do you want to know who I voted for? I have changed sides twice in the last three elections. Who will I vote for in the European elections?” “I'll call you as soon as I leave the booth to tell you who I voted for,” jokes Fiorello.
There is room for an anecdote about Giorgia Meloni. “Meloni as a babysitter? You should ask my wife. She says she was very good, she learned while she was with the child, she didn't let her play with dolls, but she loved Lego, she built… However, “I have a good memory about Giorgetta there “It’s nothing to say,” he says with his usual irony.
Past and future
Regret? “My biggest problem is that I didn't learn as much as I would have liked because it was a matter of attendance. When I went to school, I did well.” And he reveals that he would have liked to “read more, study music and play an instrument, but above all learn a foreign language. “I envy English children who can speak English at the age of six,” he jokes.
The showman also jokes about his possible retirement from the stage: “I turned 63, 64 in May, and I think we are approaching the moment when I will retire. I'm not one of those people who has a super long career. Let's say that between… okay, let's not say anything, we don't keep our word. Once I said 'I'll stop at 50' and I'm already at 63, so…” laughs Fiorello.