Warm greetings to Barbara Palombelli, who was 15 years old in 1968 and turns 70 today. Print journalist (L’Europeo, Panorama, Corriere, Repubblica, Corriere again), radio and television journalist at Rai and Mediaset, today on Canale 5 and Rete 4 with Forum, witness to an Italy that has changed, but not enough. We use it to trace the stages of a generation.
Excited, are we celebrating?
“Never celebrated, never blew out the candles, not even at 18 and not even this time, never done it for myself; Then it’s done for the others, the children.”
Superstition?
“I don’t think so, it’s just that the forced party makes me melancholy.” Even when we married Rutelli, there were four of us, at 8 a.m.: It doesn’t depend on age.
Let’s start with 1968. What did you do?
“I started when I was 15, in the second year of science high school. In the afternoons I was the secretary of a dance school: I wanted to be independent, my father said: “If you want freedom, you have to conquer it”.
But now there was a world in turmoil around them.
“Of course, around me were Giuliano Ferrara and Paolo Mieli, who were not yet newspaper editors, they were kids who, like me, played a revolution in high school.” I was always the smaller one, the one who followed them. Once I remember that while hunting for Giuliano Ferrara in Valle Giulia, I ended up in one of the classrooms where my grandmother’s brother, who was an architect, was teaching. I threw myself out of the window, still following Giuliano. A two meter jump. We had fun too.”
A happy and light 68.
“That was the case in the first few years. But the adults told us: If you want to talk, read up…».
– Barbara Palombelli in the seventies
No political 686?
“No, that comes later. In the beginning it was the student movement. For me, the best thing is discovering that the people I spent that time with are still the people I love. There are no breaks, but rather a continuity that keeps me company and also confirms that I have led a good life.”
And at university?
“I worked there too, I did research for Rai: we did the work that you do today with a click on Google. When my father, who was a stockbroker, died and we didn’t have a cent left, Ida Magli’s husband Adriano, who was a professor but also deputy director of Radio 2, recommended me and others for a Rai contract.”
Then came journalism.
“It was always there, when I was six years old I made newspapers and sold them to family members. Then, as a girl, I knocked on all the newspapers, Espresso, Repubblica, Corriere, and introduced myself: “I would like to write.”
But at the end of the 1970s printed paper appeared.
«In 1979 I reached the European Championships. But the best day of my professional life was when I walked onto Via Solferino to sign the contract with Ugo Stille as Corriere correspondent. I also took my mother with me to Milan: she was waiting for me downstairs at the bar. On the other hand, I spent the 90s at Repubblica, I had a lot of fun, with Di Pietro, Berlusconi: they had to be done there, it was like in the cinema.”
Lots of TV and lots of newspapers. What is the difference?
“Television always seemed to me to be a very simple thing. Printed paper requires more effort. When Gianni Letta first invited me to interview Andreotti, I said to myself: ask a question and go. I thought television would be a way to put your signature in the spotlight.
One question and off you go, but it has to be the right one!
“Yes, and since I was late, I asked the question suggested by the taxi driver: “Sir, where do you find time to write books?” And while my colleagues were fussing, I asked what people were having at dinner asked.
Few but good loves, he wrote in his book “Never stop”. Do you remember the first one?
“I remember him very well, also because he taught me a lot of things. He is an official of the chamber, a very brilliant mind: with him I learned the secrets of the law.” I also met Francesco, my husband, by chance; a mutual friend asked me to help him at Radio Radicalico: After one He was homeless the week we lived together… tonight I’m sleeping here and then it stayed that way, almost 44 years have passed.”
– With her husband Francesco Rutelli in 2010 at the Olympic Stadium during a Lazio-Roma derby (Jpeg)
A flash that lasted a lifetime.
“I do not know why. We were different people and still are. Maybe the secret is to be yourself. Even though the balance is difficult, when you want to draw a line in the sand, you feel like I’ve done a big thing… But in the moments when I wasn’t at the forefront, I also took steps backwards. I always think there is something else that can be done. You have to have plans A, B, C… I have plans up to Z. For example, now I’m working on a thematic channel on health and well-being, that will be my next step.”
How do you see women today?
“The 20 to 25 year olds are very good; a little less among the 40 to 45 year olds, because many have made big sacrifices for their careers and that’s why I would have liked to tell each of them: “It’s not worth it, take care of your private life too.” I’m running a big campaign for the cryopreservation of eggs: I think it is important to give birth to children, I like them very much, two new grandchildren arrived this summer. It is a society made up of individuals. I still believe that what connects us with Francis is the fact that together we can change things.”
Regret?
“I would do anything again. I really built my life because as a young girl I tried to read, do, go to the movies, listen: I’ve always had a cult of adults, so when I was 18 I was hanging out with Edda Ciano and Paolo Stoppa, Eduardo De Filippo, Moravia».
A privilege to have Rome as a backdrop…
“My family has been here for 500 years, I can’t imagine anywhere else”