Paola Pellai February 20, 2023
The television was out of sight Rosanna Banfi, but Dancing with the stars gave us back his smile and sweet determination. “This program revitalized me. There are no concrete projects yet, but I hope that suggestions will come.”
The secrets of this program?
“Milly Carlucci is an incredible general at leading a proven team. You feel protected and if, like me, you’re lucky enough to be with a dancer who you get along with very well, you’ve bingoed. Simone Casula and I hit it off straight away: we are friends».
Is it true that you spontaneously said yes when Carlucci called you?
“I would have even said yes to her the day before she suggested it to me. TV and cinema had forgotten me, I was tired of waiting for a call that didn’t come. After 50 it’s hard to find the right role for you. That’s when the idea of plan B came to me.
tell us
«We opened the Orecchiettetteria Banfi in Rome. A place dedicated to the father’s career and to the excellence of Puglia, born of a true passion. Dad and I always cooked. The impetus for this came from our daughter Virginia, who enrolled in a culinary school after traditional high school. She worked in other restaurants, got engaged and then married a chef».
The names of the first courses pick up on Dad’s famous jokes…
«The first courses are only with orecchiette. The most popular variant is the “Porca puttèna” with tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic».
Have you ever thought of revolutionizing orecchiette with cricket flour?
«(laughs, amused, ed.) No, no, no… I don’t know if this is really going to be the future of food, but humans are an animal that can adapt to anything. After all, it’s just a flour, I don’t think it has a special taste or that we would hear the cricket crunching under our teeth».
Papa was allowed to have a say: On January 22, 2019, the then Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio declared him a member of the Italian Unesco Commission.
“Occasionally he’ll join these online meetings with a hundred people who only speak English and then laughingly tell me he’s the only ‘Mr’, everyone else is ‘Dr’ or ‘Prof’. In short, it doesn’t do anything.”
After art school, she didn’t know how to tell dad she wanted to be in show business.
“It’s true, I was afraid of his answer. Instead he smiled at me and told me he would help me if he could.”
With Lino he also presented Saint Vincent in Eurovision in 1988
“It was an immense emotion. As soon as the Eurovision theme song started, I closed my stomach. On stage, I would have introduced Miguel Bosè, whose photo I kept in my diary… He was so beautiful, it’s hard to imagine… (he smiles, ed.) ».
Dad even helped her give birth.
«It was not an easy birth: my mother was a small woman and I weighed almost 5 kilos. She couldn’t have done it on her own, dad helped her. But do you know what he did then?”.
NO…
“When the midwife walked past her afterbirth and asked him to remove it, he flushed it down the toilet and blocked it. Yes, he clogged the toilet with my placenta (laughs, editor’s note) ».
We always talk about dad, but there is also a great mom
«Mamma Lucia was the classic woman of yesteryear who pretends to let her husband decide everything and is instead the one who has the last word. Mom did a great job, she helped dad a lot to get famous by keeping the family together and making sure he found a safe and loving place every time he came home. But dad also taught us to respect values and rules and not to betray the trust. He knows? Those were different times, I was the eldest daughter, but when I came home later than agreed, I got a few slaps in the face… ».
She had such a close family that she found it easy to clone them when she made her own
“Mum and Dad have been married for 61 years. The marriage between me and Fabio (Leoni, note) has lasted for 31 years, we have been working together for years, sharing all day. We were lucky enough to meet and be the right person for each other. We’re not a panda couple, we’re a happy couple.”
Which mother is she?
«Virginia is 30 years old, Pietro is 25. I left her free in her choice, but always by her side, open to dialogue and comparison. Today we are a de facto working family. We work together in the Orecchietterie».
This chain of love was crucial in winning her biggest fight: in 2009, she underwent surgery for breast cancer.
“On Dancing with the Stars, I danced to a tumor-inspired choreography and dedicated it to all the women who are struggling and those who haven’t. I am a testimonial for the Komen association, which focuses on prevention. Prevention saves our lives, we must never tire of saying that. Women often neglect themselves to prioritize responsibilities related to household, husband and children. I tell them to take the time to feel good about themselves. When you’re feeling good, make those you love feel good too.”
She defines herself as a “restaurateur”: one wish as a restaurateur and one as an actress.
«As a restaurateur, I would like to turn our Orecchietteria into a business and open branches in other cities. As an actress, on the other hand, I would like to tie in with Un Medico in Famiglia. 30-year-old customers come to the restaurant who know the episodes by heart because they grew up together.”