He candidly confesses that he was “born for women”, Paolo Cima, better known as ‘Zizì’Latin lover legend from Torre Pedrera (Rimini) who on June 4th celebrates his first eightieth birthday with a big party at the ‘Il Nido’ restaurant, where he will be surrounded by more than 100 people including friends, acquaintances and admirers.
He declares that he has loved about 10 thousand women in his very long career, a figure that requires difficult calculations to establish an annual average and which would put him in first place compared to his fiercest rival Maurizio Zanfanti, for all Zanza, which would have stopped at 6 thousand. Big numbers aside today ‘Zizì’ declares himself a little tired of the fairer sex, his is a well-deserved pension, and he enjoys the joy of the three grandchildren of his only daughter, and a great-grandson born just three months ago. He has never married, as he is keen to point out, and lives alone but has his two sisters-in-law as neighbours, and always has lunch with friends because “it’s better to live outside”. And he no longer has any qualms about talking about his own seduction secretssome perhaps eternal, others instead not suitable for today’s young people who ask for a selfie.
How do you feel about celebrating the important milestone of eighty?
“Well. I live my days without big plans and always surrounded by many people who are constantly looking for me. Here, in my Torre Pedrera, I am still a God. There are also those who envy me for having had so many women, it’s part of the game. The younger ones would like to imitate me but they can’t, they don’t have what it takes.”
Why aren’t today’s kids up to par?
«They prefer beer and joints to girls, that’s the truth. They have the telephone and making new acquaintances takes a moment, they live more isolated, not like me who traveled even 5-10 kilometers to go and find a new flame, to have a kiss… Nowadays young people have sex at 13-14 years old and they go out until the morning, they reach 17-18 years old who no longer know what to do, they are already bored. They make me feel a little sorry. In the world of the 60s-70s-80s there were friendships, we were all united, we really had fun.”
Is it correct to say that your first passion as a child was football?
«Yes, even if the obsession with girls started very early. In any case, I was a promising player, Bologna and Sampdoria wanted me. But at the age of 14 I had meningitis and was saved by a miracle because the treatments were not as cutting-edge as they are today. I had become 30 kilos, then I reached a hundredweight, but I continued to play even if it was mostly for fun.”
Even then, he sometimes ran away from training to go with the girls. How did your journey as a playboy begin?
«My family had a fish factory and I was the youngest of the brothers. This allowed me to have a certain comfort. As soon as I was an adult, I had a red Alfa Romea Spider 1600 and a Kawasaki motorbike that I parked, one on one side and one on the other, on the seafront. And it was done, I attracted a queue of foreign tourists into my network who asked me to take them for a tour.”
Was that a shock for foreigners?
«Yes, because the Germans and Swedes had a more open mentality than the Italians, they came to the Riviera to make love with the Italians. When I was tired, I also left some for friends. It must also be said that some of them were stolen from me because I couldn’t keep up with them all.”
What is the secret to conquering so many women?
«I had friends who were better looking than me but their shyness penalized them. Women like the confident, cheeky, friendly and funny guy who never stops talking and paying attention to them. It takes a vocation.”
Earlier you talked about beautiful cars and motorbikes: how much does money matter?
“The truth? If you spend you get caught, if you don’t spend you don’t get caught. You can’t skimp. When you are very young it is different because you are satisfied with little, but then when you go out and go to dinner money matters. I’m reminded of a playful tactic I used to make other men jealous…”.
Which?
«I often went out with beautiful girls, even thirty years younger, once I became an adult. I enjoyed putting money in their purse so that they would pay for their dinner, and I certainly didn’t ask for what was left over. In the eyes of other men all this was incredible, but because they didn’t know the trick.”
Have you ever fallen in love?
“Yes. For love I have also been to Russia, the United States and the Canary Islands, they asked me to move permanently to live with them but after a few weeks I felt the strong call of Rimini, the most beautiful place in the world, the one where I want to die.”
And now what is your relationship with the opposite sex?
«I continue to be wanted, also because I am young and they don’t give me more than 65 years old, despite the fact that I have never had a touch up. But I don’t want to suffer anymore. Even though I still like women, I’m almost withdrawn, I’m almost sick of them.”
What do you say about your rivalry with Zanza after some time?
«He worked in clubs, he didn’t have hands that smelled of fish like me, I only went out in the evening, due to the type of life I led I gave him tours… I never met him, even though I know he wanted get to know me. Over time he had various vicissitudes, perhaps he was missing his head, unfortunately he died too soon.”
Returning to his birthday party, what will he give himself?
«Better to say what I will give to my guests: recent photos of me in costume, in the crab pose. Many asked me for them after seeing the video on YouTube, and so I had 150 copies printed.”
