So it was true, no second thoughts. After five years, the same life as a legislature, the Amadeus era is over in Sanremo. And who will Rai choose to replace him? Carlo Conti. Open up heaven. The announcement was made on Tg1 at 8 in the morning, not in the evening, perhaps an attempt by the old Christian Democrats to pass the news off a bit under the radar and avoid criticism. It did not work. Carlo Conti, who in fact did not present himself very well (his first line was “the Conti are back!”), was quickly labeled by ruthless online commentators when he goes well as an insipid ferryman, and when he goes badly as a restorer, a standard-bearer of TeleMeloni, symbol of the new, presumed, cultural hegemony of the right. Many have written the same joke: only Pino Insegno was worse than Conti. All opinions in contrast with the love for Amadeus, whose regency is remembered as a very enlightened and barricadero period, and Ama in exile on the Nine button of the remote control is regretted as if it were a kind of cross between Renzo Arbore and Fabio Fazio.
But what did poor Carlo Conti do to deserve this skepticism? In his 40-year career at Rai, he says, he has never had support from politics. Conti deals with lightness, he doesn’t take sides. It is impossible to dredge up his old divisive or partisan statements. As he said in an interview with Cazzullo on Courier from a few years ago: «I prefer not to give myself a color. I’m a TV jester: everyone must look at me in the same way, see themselves reflected in my normality.” To be honest, looking through his Instagram profile one notices a penchant for many issues dear to the government in office, or at least to some of its ministers: there is the photo of his son’s first communion, the post of best wishes to all mothers, with the portraits of the two most important mothers in his life, there is a photo of a bouquet of mimosas for Women’s Day. But is it enough to attribute him to right-wing political ideas?
Among other things, Conti has already hosted three Sanremos, and in the years when the Democratic Party was in government. With its classic reassuring style, without disturbing or provoking. In 2015, its first edition, Il Volo won, and Conti brought the Anania family on stage, the largest in Italy (sixteen children), of course. But Conchita Wurst also performed in Sanremo that year, and Conti chose three women to host her alongside her, including Arisa, who showed up on stage one evening stoned and, before introducing Annalisa’s performance with a slur, praised the doctor from Sanremo who had prescribed anesthetics for her. Not exactly a prohibitionist approach. And in 2016? Super guests of the caliber of Nicole Kidman and Elton John, plus a Laura Pausini medley on the first evening (and also one of Pooh on Thursday, as per tradition). Then of course, Stadio won, but Bluvertigo and Neffa were also in the competition. In 2017 Gabbani triumphed, his “Occidentali’s Karma” is recognized as the first spark of the youth turning point then taken by Baglioni and Amadeus. Final of the first Contian era with a bang, Zucchero, Keanu Reeves and Ricky Martin showed up at the Ariston. Carlo Conti inherited Fabio Fazio’s flop festival, which recorded nightmarish negative records the year before him, and has given the country back a show in good shape, with ratings not seen for years.
He will only bring old people and fascists, even so he was defamed by anonymous commentators on social media unaware of the unsuspected talent scout flair of Carlo Conti, who in his old Sanremo (where he has always been artistic director) launched Gabbani in the New Proposals section, Ermal Meta, Mahmood and Irama. There is only one accusation, among all those made against Carlo Conti in recent days, which in fact is not exactly far-fetched: he is too good a friend of Panariello and Pieraccioni. Conti has already announced that he will probably invite them, maybe not every evening, but we can talk about one. Perhaps his companions will not be Ricky Gervais and John Oliver, and they are an unequivocal worsening compared to Fiorello, but we have seen many chilling comic moments over the years in Sanremo, and not always the fault of the Tuscans.
In short, the only difference with Amadeus would be this: one is a friend of Fiorello, and the other is not. By now we are so used to rooting for everything, and to dividing every topic into convenient binary alternatives, that even two docile workers of the television stage who are all in all interchangeable with each other can trigger ideological battles. Thankfully, these wacky battles remain on our phones. Even in that of Carlo Conti, who these days is probably too busy dodging self-nominations and pandering messages to pay attention to these social skirmishes: on his latest Instagram post, a “let’s go to Sanremo!” style photo, there are congratulations public in the comments – among others – of Marco Carta, Giusy Ferreri, Bianca Atzei, Nina Zilli, and who knows the explosions of affection in the DMs.
Sanremo will follow the usual reassuring outline, it is not yet time for revolutionary choices such as entrusting the hosting to a “young man” under fifty or to a presenter. In the competition, as per recent tradition, we will listen to some idols of the new pop and rap generation, stimulated by the chart successes of their colleagues in the wake of their visits to the Riviera last February. Even if the idea of inviting only old glories and comedians from the Melonian area occurred to Carlo Conti, a look at the data indicating which age group gives the most money to the Italian music industry would be enough to convince the new sheriff to continue the process of rejuvenating the Festival. Only nine months to go, but don’t panic: next year we will have our dose of sterile controversies and fleeting passions, our Geoliers and our Angelina Mangos.
