Iva Zanicchi: “Nilla Pizzi and Mom’s slap. But I really went to Sanremo” – Magazine

The friend Orietta has one more, but amen. Iva Zanicchi he has no hesitation in talking about his eleventh Sanremo as the definitive one. “As a competitor he is certainly the last,” he admits. “I’m fine, ‘I want to love you’ is a great song, therefore, the conditions to close well are all there. In some way I owe it to the Festival and to my story, I was born on that stage”.
He discovered Sanremo in front of the TV at the Vaglie di Ligonchio tavern.
“Yes, in the village at that time there were two TVs, that of the priest and that of Signora Pallati’s tavern. We went to the tavern because the climate was more lively. I remember that in front of the triumph of Pizzi I, and with my voice broken by tears, I shouted: one day I’ll be there too and I’ll win the Sanremo Festival. In response my mother Elsa gave me a slap and then turned to the villagers saying: sorry, it’s worse than Uncle Giovanni who wanted to become Pope and was not even a priest “.
How did you get the desire for the stage?
“In Vaglie, Enel, which at the time was still called Edison, gave the community a little show in the square every year. I was a child, but the passion for the stage arrived immediately. The director was a young Ermanno Olmi whom I fell in love with sitting standing “.
In 1965 his first Sanremo arrived. Excluded. Since elimination has now been eliminated, do you find it unnecessary cruelty?
“More than singing, that first time I blazed with emotion. For the artists, the competition apart is not pleasant, but for the purposes of the show I think it is very captivating. Blood and sand. I remember that in my second Festival, the one in which I sang ‘The night of farewell’ by Memo Remigi, they even threw Celentano out with ‘The boy from via Gluck’. But it is more right this way “.
Now come back.
“It was the television broadcast ‘D’Iva’ and the possibility of being able to sing with a large live orchestra that made me want to go to Sanremo. And then there is the song, arranged by Celso Valli, if you know what I mean .. . “.
She was born in the middle of winter, under the snow, in a stable. Her mother deposited her in the manger of the cow she was milking waiting to be helped by her grandparents Giuseppe and Maria. He might as well have grown his head …
“Indeed, over the years I thought I was a bit of a favorite, a bit of a daughter of God for real. Let it be clear that my parents did not live in a stable, but chance had decided to have me born while she was looking after Nerina, a cow who made a lot of milk “.
It was the great-grandfather Lorenzo who said that she was born on a Thursday and a good moon, therefore, that in life she would be very lucky.
“At least he … My father Zephyr, who was expecting a boy, refused to see me for three days. And to think that, for a twist of fate, of the four children I am the one that most resembles him: the exact mold. Pure mom. she did not love me right away when she was told, still upset by the labor of childbirth: ‘come on, the next one will be a boy’. what’s more, ugly ‘. Even in the village there was a certain discontent, because there would be no drinking for the long-awaited son of the Zanicchi family “.
Speaking of family members, he made his aunt die a dozen times to get out of embarrassing situations.
“Her name was Verina and I used her sudden, untimely departure to get me out of unwanted advances. Once I even brought her up to escape the pressing attention of Alberto Sordi. As mom used to say, my biggest flaw is not knowing how to say No. According to Verina, those lies of mine lengthened her life. “
Have you ever remembered your very lucky American tour with Morandi in ’73?
“I promised myself to do it in Sanremo. Perhaps recalling stories like that of the native who called me” Zanicca “and who at Madison Square Garden brought me a pack of toilet paper as a gift, believing that we still didn’t use it in Italy. I said: he has one for Gianni as well, because if not, you know, maybe he is upset “.
Surreal episode.
“On that tour we had a similar one, in Canada. We were having dinner with a family who had made a fortune from import-export. Our host’s wife proudly showed us an invention she thought I was completely unaware of. : the bathroom. Gianni, as a joke, lay down in the tub saying that he would like to sleep in it all night and the amazed and embarrassed landlady repeated: but there we wash! “.
Still today he considers albums like ‘Caro Theodorakis’, ‘Caro Aznavour’, “I will be your idea” inspired by Garcia Lorca, his best records. Why then hasn’t he made any more of that type?
“For a stupid reason: the explosion of disco music. They offered me to record dance songs with an English name. I refused and decided to stop. Then came the offer to conduct ‘Ok the price is right’ and I concentrated on the TV thinking that the experience would last a maximum of six months. It lasted, however, twelve years. Then I went down to politics and that was the end “.
And to think that there was a time when she was considered an icon of the left.
“It happened when in ‘Caro Theodorakis’ I recorded that ‘River amaro’ which in Emilia was played at the funeral together with ‘Bandiera rossa’. When it was discovered that I was not a communist there was a general disappointment. In reality I didn’t care much about politics” .
So why did he get himself elected to the European Parliament?
“To have the experience. Berlusconi didn’t want to. He told me that thanks to TV I had everything, security, popularity, and that I would regret it. He was right.”
He chose him and his party.
“I respected Berlusconi and I still respect him. He was a very generous person and very much loved in the company. Even if after the descent into the field they began to love him a little less. However, I strongly advise against politics for all show people. Because, in a country like ours, people won’t forgive you. “
And the important thing is to participate in the Festival?
“But it goes there. At the Festival you go there to win and I have succeeded three times. When I play scopone, if I lose I inca ** or, let alone in Sanremo. But I’m not stupid and I hope that this year on the top step we end up with a young man capable, as Måneskin did, of bringing Italian music to the world “.