Sanremo 2021, Amadeus at Vanity Fair: “The desire to overdo it, my biggest flaw”

Amadeus has 3 hours of sleep and one of the most difficult festivals in history behind him, but this does not prevent him from answering the phone with an air and vivacity, as if Sanremo was still leading him from the lobby of the Hotel Globo which he is about to leave to return in Rome. “I am tired, but very happy. Last night I went to bed at 6 and woke up at 9, but today is the day of joy and satisfaction “ explains Amadeus a few hours from the final that crowned the Måneskin winners and from the end of a Sanremo that saw him at the center of controversy that, from the presence or absence of the public at the Ariston to the parity of the flowers that had to be given to both sexes , they did not go out even for a minute, hunting him, chasing him as happens every year to any artist who decides to get on board the festival car.

Now, however, the time has come to look at the pharaonic enterprise that he managed to bring home thanks to the complicity and support of his friends who have never abandoned him and to remove a few pebbles from his shoe. Always with grace, always with the elegance of those who have been doing this job for forty years but who still manage to make them feel strong, electric emotions like those that arise during adolescence.

It seemed very difficult, but in the end Sanremo is gone.
“It was very difficult not only for the lack of the public, but also for having given up many things that we had thought of before and that we were unable to bring home due to Covid. We had the protocol on February 4th: in less than a month we had to put a series of things back on track, but in the end it went well and I thank all those who participated, especially those who were contacted at the last moment ».

An idea that you gave up more reluctantly?
“I have been working at the Festival since last May: I told myself that from there to March we would be in a situation, I do not say normal, but more peaceful, and instead we found ourselves in full pandemic, with Italy with thousands of infections and a possible third wave. We all live in a very difficult psychological situation that we could not foresee, but which we have suffered from time to time ».

At the third conference you said it outright: “People are angry.”
“This is why I say that we need to make a careful analysis of the situation: you cannot reason as if we were in a normal situation. The numbers we have done are incredible and are in line with the festivals of the past made “in normality”. For me it is a miracle. But, precisely for this reason, we cannot fail to deal with a country that is angry, disappointed, sad, with so many people who do not know if they can put a dish on the table in the evening. I have always said that for me Sanremo is not a television program, but an event: as such, it needs the audience, the press room, as if it were a Super Bowl. If you take away all this, the event turns into a television broadcast, which is another thing ».

At the last conference Fiorello said that you and he have learned to “make a show for no one”: do you agree?
“We talked to each other long before we went on the air: neither of us had ever had to deal with an empty audience, but I must say that our radio background helped us. When you are on the radio you have only the technician in front of you, but you have to imagine that you have thousands of people listening to you. The famous radio rhythm was indispensable ».

Tonight the photograph of a hug with Fiorello taken immediately after the final was shot.
“I love him as if he were a brother. It was a liberating hug, made at 3:30 in the morning as if to say “thank you, we did it” ».

Fiorello, among other things, you have always defended him from criticism, you said that he is “a good and honest person”.
«It’s true, Fiorello is an extremely good person, honest and generous: we must love people who have these qualities regardless of social background, skin color, what they vote for or what they support. People who have moral qualities must be loved ».

In this regard, you mentioned your working group which has always been close to you.
“Lucio Presta, Gianmarco Mazzi, Niccolò Presta, Gina Cilia, Gianfranco Gallo: they are five people who in two years have not left me alone even for a moment, who have supported my ideas and helped me to realize them, people who have fought with myself. If you don’t have the right people around you, you can’t do it alone. “

There have been several difficult moments, from the Irama case to the positivity of Simona Ventura, during this Sanremo. The greatest fear?
“That something else could happen. Luckily the protocol worked and everything went well, everyone’s attention was very high, as if they understood the importance of the Festival by observing the rules to the letter. We have always said that this Sanremo had to be done, and it was possible thanks to a winning protocol that should also be taken as a model for other situations ».

The unexpected events, including Ventura’s renunciation of the final, certainly put her to the test.
«It is as if I were sitting at the table and the legs of the chairs began to yield: we must, however, remain calm and lucid. I felt sorry for Simona as well as for Irama, who saw Sanremo closed in the hotel even though it was not positive. It was a strange Sanremo, but when the singers told me they were happy to have been part of it, my heart was filled ».

It remains that, sometimes, many difficult choices are made to optimize the times, such as the elimination of the tribute to Stefano D’Orazio of the Poohs on the last evening.
“It was a disappointment to me. I have a flaw: wanting to do too much. Coming from a Southern family, I have always had a tendency to abound with courtesy to make guests find a lot to eat, sometimes overdoing it, preparing 3 first and 4 second courses and advancing a lot of stuff. I’ve always wanted to do too much – the 26 singers were a way to help get the music started again – but the risk is to leave important things out on the street, and I’m sorry about that ».

Could it be a viable idea to recover the tribute to D’Orazio in the Sanremo Estate he said he wanted to bring to July?
“Absolutely yes, it’s the least I can do. I met Stefano D’Orazio personally, I had an excellent relationship with him. In my heart I would like to organize a tribute to him as soon as possible: he is a person I loved and appreciated as a man and as an artist ».

Speaking of this Sanremo Estate, don’t you think that this could already be considered an “Ama Ter” that you have already said that you do not want to repeat for the moment?
«Sanremo Estate is a promise made to the mayor and to the traders to repay the efforts of a city that welcomed us with great generosity and worked hard following the protocol. The idea of ​​July is dictated by the desire to light up the summer of Sanremo, a right conclusion to see an open Sanremo. It would be a party night, not a competition ».

On the race just ended, however, Måneskin’s rock victory was appreciated.
“I brought different genres, from indie to pop. When I listened to this piece in September I had immediately cataloged it as one of the strongest: seeing that the public voted them with such a high percentage made it a sea change. In 70 years it had never happened that such a rock song won, it is as if it were a photograph of this type of Sanremo made with strength and energy, with the desire to fight. In general, I am proud of all 26 pieces I brought and which I believe we will hear for a long time to come ».

As artistic director, someone spoke of “breaking choices” not in line with Raiuno’s target and, therefore, courageous.
«When I am 58 years old, I am no longer afraid of taking risks and making mistakes: this makes me unconscious, but sometimes it helps me because I’m not afraid to go on. I felt that this Sanremo should have changed something, so I said to myself: let’s take advantage of the pandemic to give the signal that we decide our destiny. Let me be clear, it is not that the previous one was not good, but the history of Sanremo has taught us that there are moments in which you have to turn the page: at the beginning you are stunned, but after 2 listening you understand that it is a wonderful reality. Meeting people of my age on the street who say that their teenage children have started watching Sanremo for the first time is a confirmation, in this sense ».

Let’s talk about this going forward: during the week of Sanremo, did you read the criticisms in the newspapers?
“No, but not because they don’t interest me. Simply because I want to stay focused on my goal without being influenced and, perhaps, desist from doing one thing. Every day I buy newspapers, I like the idea of ​​keeping them for my grandchildren, I often also print articles from the web because I like to have them printed, but then and there I don’t read them. I prefer to go my own way: the budgets are made at the end. Until then I remain in a bubble that I build a week before Sanremo ».

A bubble that guarantees mental survival.
“Keeping the psyche and mind clear and serene is the first thing to do to organize a show like Sanremo”.

Meanwhile, he remained faithful to the line he took last year, which is to involve several women on stage.
“I like trying to walk paths that haven’t been trodden before. I therefore thought of bringing many women of different ages and of different professions so that each one would bring their own world to the stage: I think this is the most beautiful tribute that the Festival can give to a woman. The disappointment was that this year I would have wanted a few more, but 2 did not come ».

This, however, did not exempt her from controversy, such as the one about the “conductor / conductor” of the orchestra of Beatrice Venezi.
“It’s something she said and asked: maybe I’m wrong, but I think the importance is not in the name, but in the role one has. If we cling to this we diminish the value of the woman because we do not dwell on the substance. It is like the story of flowers: perhaps it is necessary to put a stop to everything you can criticize regardless, otherwise we will never get out of it. Last year it almost seemed to me that I could no longer say “beautiful” to a woman, but for me “beautiful” is an extraordinary compliment because it is not just an aesthetic appreciation, but something more. Let’s say that one is a “nice person” for this reason, assuming that one is naturally also good. I understand, however, that in Sanremo everything is a controversy: Beatrice Venezi was the CEO AmaSanremo calling himself “director” and no one said a word. Luckily she explained it herself ».

Are we not very free today, in your opinion?
“Today we are fighting for a freedom that is just, but we must also be careful. Think of the joke programs, of certain gags by Sandra Mondaini and Raimondo Vianello that today could no longer be done because he would be massacred: we are often not free to joke because there is always the risk of offending someone. Absurdly, I’m afraid we’re turning back. ‘

I go back to the “beautiful”, because I imagine that his wife Giovanna often says this.
«I tell Giovanna, my daughter, my mother: I will always say“ beautiful ”to the women in my life. I am fortunate to have a woman I have loved for 20 years, children who are my life, trusted friends: all things that I keep close to because they are the basics. I would not be able to do my job peacefully if in my private life I did not have the people who put me in a position to be ».

Fiorello said that after Sanremo he will dedicate himself to the sofa and TV series: what about you?
«I would like to be closer to my family that I have sacrificed a little in the last 2 years. And then I would like to devote myself a little to myself, I have not been doing physical and sporting activity for a long time and, given my age, I should keep fit. It remains, however, that I want to give myself a bit of a healthy sofa too ».

For workouts, he can always rely on Ibrahimovic.
«He told me, in fact, to go and see him at Milanello. But to eat, not to play ».