Marino Bartoletti protagonist of the italiani.it literary café. He is a well-known journalist, profound connoisseur of music and expert of the Sanremo Festival but, above all, he is a man of great culture and great humanity.

Marino, you are a famous journalist, but you are also a writer, a music expert, an expert on Sanremo. His career is brilliant and very long, therefore, from what can we start, perhaps from his latest book "The Supper of the Gods".

He is a creature that is giving me so much satisfaction, in which there is a lot of Marino. There are the memories and also the question of a provincial boy who has always asked himself, when he still didn't have a mustache, what happens to our champions of entertainment, music and sport. So, I delegated a Great Old Man, who is Enzo Ferrari, who, having been in that place for more than forty years, one day thought, but why should I get bored, when nearby, on some clouds, there will be people who I would be happy to meet, friends with whom I had important relationships in life, people I never met because they were born before me, guys younger than me that I have heard of and that I would really like to know and meet.

Marino Bartoletti with his book
Marino Bartoletti guest of the italiani.it literary café

Then, set up a dinner in this ideal Olympus. He is of course a bit like the Jupiter of the situation, the Great Old Man of the situation, even if there is another Great Old Man in Heaven, the one with a beard and, having both a strong personality, they don't always get along very well. However, in the end it seems that the dinner turns out very well and these ten characters chosen with great care, they find themselves very well and tell all true stories.

There is a recent post on her social networks in which she shows the books she has written. Among others, he mentions “BarToletti and BarToletti 2”. Do you want to talk about it?

We have already reached the fourth. Obviously BarToletti is an easy pun that I can afford, simply because that's what my name is. The BarToletti is a café where you meet, where you talk as friends, chat and remember. I had made two promises, that I would never go in on facebook and that I would never write books. All at once, what I had written on facebook has become a book so now I am condemned never to go to “The Supper of the Gods” because to do it you have to go to heaven and I will never make it. That said, it is clear that at some point I felt like writing my almost daily thoughts and reflections, and a publisher who insisted that I write a book and to whom I always said "I will never write a book" , at a certain point he said to me: “but did you not realize that you have already written the book”? Basically, they are already three-quarters of the way through Bar Toletti 5 who will have the mask, even if in an ironic way. Someone had told me, if you enter facebook, of course, do short things and don't put pictures, I listened to everyone then, obviously, I did my own thing by doing the only thing I know how to do that is to tell stories that seem like fairy tales or fairy tales that seem stories, life experiences.

I only write about things I know and that's what I pride myself on the most together, said very sincerely, to the climate of civilization that I tried to establish with these books, so much so that the fourth is called, in a very pompous way as if I had mounted my head, "BarToletti so I changed my facebook". I changed it in the sense that, at least those who follow me, have found a step of education, of civility, of competence, of the desire for growth to which they try to adapt and for which I am committed.

Recently she wrote about Luna Rossa on her social networks. We Italians in this period are particularly proud to be Italians for the successes of Luna Rossa. Are you confident for a final? What would be the impact for sport and the Italian economy of hosting the next edition in Italy?

I think Sardinia is ready. Let us remember that Sardinia was the cradle of our ambitions in the America's Cup because it is from the Yacht Club in Costa Smeralda that, almost 40 years ago, this project began and this dream was, in truth, carried out by a person who was born one step away from me, that is in Forlì in Corso Diaz and whose name is Cino Ricci. He is a mad dreamer, who invented Azzurra that made us stay awake, for the first time, every night many and many years ago. And then of course the Moor of Venice, also this with a good dose of Romagna because Raul Gardini wanted it and Luna Rossa, which truly represents a beautiful Italy. I did a first post in which I said that I was very proud, proud, admired, pleased and after I said “it is clear that with these shots you touch the sensation every now and then to be immersed in a video game ". I had never done it because, the hard and pure continue to say that boats are something else, the others, those who look at contemporaneity say, so once again we participate with the sailing ships like the first editions of the America's Cup . In short, when I did a next post, when when we were able to access the actual cup I wrote, “ok, let's keep our pride and I'm not writing anything else because I wouldn't want to argue as if we were talking about Juventus-Napoli. Let's keep this nice thing and then we'll talk about it.

50 years ago she left Forlì to go to Milan… the theme of roots is very dear to italiani.it. What is your relationship with the place of your roots?

I am very attached to my roots, when I go back to Romagna and smell the scent of piadina, I wobble. I feel the scent of my sea, of my countryside, of my land. When I can I go by bicycle to Romagna with my friends, in those gentle hills in particular moments, among other things, like all crepuscular, I love the yellow of autumn. I believe that the Lord, when he invented Romagna, like so many other places but, let me be proudly provincial, I think he worked hard enough. Because there is the mountain, the countryside, the history, the culture, there is everything that a person can reasonably aspire to see. There is a place, near Forlì where I was born, which is called Bertinoro. It is a hill, a large stack overlooking the sea, which really puts you at peace with the world, on the luckiest days you can see Croatia on the other side. I'll just tell you this to tell you where my pride can go, Bertinoro is famous for being the town of hospitality. It is distinguished by a column in the square which is called the "column of rings", it is a column with many rings that it is not clear what they represent. They represent the fact that the only time in which Bertinoresi quarreled, in the Middle Ages, was when a traveler came and they literally fought to be able to host him, until they put these rings, which corresponded to as many families, and depending on where, by chance. , he attacked his horse, that corresponded to a family that could host him, without arguing about it. This is Romagna hospitality.

You have traveled extensively as a sports journalist, as a writer. How is Marino Bartoletti welcomed by Italians around the world?

I have followed, live, ten Olympics, ten world championships, not to mention the European championships, Formula 1 world championship races, motorcycling and so on. Having followed ten Olympics means having gone from Montreal in '76, to Moscow in 80, to Los Angeles in 84, to Seoul in 88, to Barcelona in '92, to America in '96, to Sydney in 2000. And then the World Cup, which means Mexico, Argentina, Korea, Japan. Sydney came to mind, how could I mention Argentina, because they are the places where most of all I felt the warmth of the Italians. Seeing these people, even now of the third generation, who could recognize and deal with someone who, in some cases even spoke their dialect, made us feel moved, made us feel brothers in the true sense of the word. In Argentina I only had the problem of understanding which community I had to go to from one evening to the next, otherwise it happened like Bertinoro who would argue if I didn't go to one or the other. But also in Sydney there were many Italian families from the point of view of origin, there was really the whole world, I have never seen an Olympics like that, in which there were so many communities from all over the world that recognized themselves in these new brothers who had come to find them. For me Argentina is unforgettable, because I spent 40 days of the 78 World Cup there and it was my first World Cup. Among other things, it was so beautiful that we did not notice certain distortions that were in Argentina at that time. However, confronting the Italians there who were still in the second generation and seeing them cry, because they heard a word in their old dialect, is something that I will carry around for my whole life.

Sanremo is upon us for the first time in a different guise. Will the magic of music reach the audience from home?

Sanremo has been over the years a great ambassador of Italian spirit. In my travels, in my trips, if I said that I knew Celentano or the emerging Toto Cutugno all the doors would open. Even Cutugno continued to love him, like when a few years ago he brought the choir of the red army singing “L'italiano”, a moment of great emotion for the whole Festival. I will watch it, as always. After thirty years it will be the first time that I don't go there, I will watch it from my home. Sanremo have to do it, they have been doing it for 71 years or at least it is the seventy-first edition. It started in 1951, it's almost my age, I think I've seen almost all of them since the age of reason, I've seen more than thirty professionally. I am wary of those who distrust Sanremo because it means that they have not understood its social as well as artistic value. It is right that it should be done, not for commercial reasons which also exist, but for this very reason artistic value and for this social value that must be preserved. We think that just sixty years ago, the organizer threw some singers into the fray so there was someone who tore his clothes saying: "but who is this Celentano, who is this Giorgio Gaber, who is this Gino Paoli with dark glasses, who is this Milva, who is this Little Tony, who is this Pino Donaggio, who is this Umberto Bindi, who is this Edoardo Vianello, they were the ones who made the fifty years of history of Italian pop music next one. We old people have to be careful, at this moment I am seized by a flash of irresistible youthfulness, I want to know everything about Fulminacci.

Let's put together two of his great passions, sport and Sanremo. Ibraimovic will be a regular guest in Sanremo. Clearly Sanremo will benefit from it, but from a sporting point of view, could Ibrahimovic and Milan be affected?

I try to bite my tongue because I don't feel like saying exactly what I think. If Amadeus thought that Ibrahimovic he could be a functional presence in Sanremo so much hats off, among other things, I think that Mihajlovic also goes there at least one evening. The mystery why Ibrahimovic wants to go there remains unknown to me and Milan lets him go. At Saremo I also met Mike Tyson, he shook my hand as Mike Tyson can, I still carry the wounds in my right hand. The Festival embraces two AC Milan matches which, at the moment, need everyone. Ibrahimovic has guaranteed, as a great professional, that he will not let anything go wrong; on the evening of Milan-Udinese I don't think he will move in telekinesis from San Siro to Sanremo, we'll see how it ends.

It has been 50 years since he left Forlì to start his career. Looking back, looking at the young Marino Bartoletti, what would you say to him? What would you say to young people who have to build their own future?

To the young Marino Bartoletti still without a mustache, I would say - do you know Marino that I am proud of you? For what you did, for the courage you had that day leaving your Forlì with a train that wasn't exactly the Frecciarossa, with your mother chasing you saying "what's in Milan that isn't in Forlì" . If I could talk to a young man I would tell him that the phrase, “be angry, be hungry”, I invented it inside myself long before Steve Jobs invented it. I believe my hunger provincial, was decisive. Guys, work on this hunger, fly as high as you can, then, you always have time to go back.

It is wonderful to hear them use the term "provincial" because many feel and experience it as a limit, but from their words it appears to be a strong point

In my opinion it is an enzyme. I envy myself a lot for the fact that I was born in the province because it gave me a hunger for life, a charge, a desire for improvement which, I'm not saying that those born in the big city might not have, however, those born in the big city. city ​​maybe takes some things for granted such as going to San Siro if you are from Milan. The first time I saw San Siro I started crying, I was twenty. I'm not saying that I still cry when I go back because certain emotions are hidden, however, it is to make it clear what extra charge that little more than symbolic gesture could give me. For me it was a reason for pride, a word that I realize that I have used many times in this chat, but I claim it, truly, with pride.

The full interview in this link.

Interview with Marino Bartoletti guest of the italiani.it literary café last edit: 2024-01-30T15:00:00+01:00 da Paola Stranges

Post comments