"I'm calm, I'm calm, I'm a new man." Fiorello repeats it as if it were a secular prayer, invoking peace of mind on the eve of the 74th edition of the Sanremo Festival , broadcast from tomorrow until Saturday 10 February. But there's no need to sigh and repeat motivational phrases to yourself. All is silent: no controversy, so far, has affected the most controversial event in Italy by definition.
Amadeus, on the strength of four record editions in which it has been through a lot, now has a thick skin and is dodging them all right from the first press conference of the journalists, who returned after the pandemic to the roof of the Ariston Theatre.
The tractor protest finds a lot of space, which from the heart of Europe to the main Italian cities, including Cagliari, will reach the city of flowers to protest against the agricultural policies of the European Union . «I find the protest absolutely right, sacrosanct – Amadeus replies to journalists who pinch him on the topic – for the right to work and the protection of one's job». Fiorello can't resist a joke: «Do you know who's in the front row? Al Bano". But then he becomes serious again: «It would be good for them to arrive, you don't find a stage like this every day, in fact I'm making an appeal to them to come. The problem - he added on the sidelines - is important and also serious and we need to intervene". "If they come - Amadeus promises - I'll let them go on stage."
The protesters take him at his word: «One of our representatives will go on stage at Sanremo», announces Danilo Calvani, leader of the Committee of Betrayed Farmers. “We are in contact with the Festival organization to establish the details,” he added.
This could be the only hint of politics at the Ariston , in an edition that will not go down in history for particularly busy or controversial songs. «Melonian festival? I can deny anything – Ama said categorically -. I met Roberto Sergio as soon as he became CEO and he told me to freely continue to do Sanremo exactly as I had done in the last four. He never made a phone call to me, I have absolute freedom. Mine are festivals that are not politically aligned either to the right or to the left." And in fact, that's the end of the story, "so far they've attacked me from all sides."
Then the classic question about the next edition returns like a curse. Amadeus seems genuinely exhausted and unwilling to give in to courtship : «I'm in love with Sanremo, but everything must end. I am flattered by the affection of Rai and the public, but I believe that five years are enough to close, I hope, with a wonderful party. However, I will remain in love with Sanremo for life." Fiorello stings him: «After five years perhaps he has finally understood that he has to leave his wife and get together with me».
The Sicilian showman, who will host the final episode together with Amadeus, will be the king of the DopoFestival, in the middle of the night . And he is already resigned to the prospect of endless evenings, even if Amadeus promises to cut where possible: «Last year we had the honor of the President of the Republic, this year there will be no institutional presence and the co-hosts will not give monologues, rather personal stories."
Music, music, music, then. And it couldn't be otherwise, with a record thirty songs in the competition. "Worried? I haven't had time to worry yet - claims Ama - because I've been up since five in the morning, doing a thousand things, in the evening I collapse and so for the moment everything is calm. The idea is to enjoy it." And, risk-free, it's even easier.
