Why is everyone mad at Stefano De Martino?

We often say on these pages that we are very good at saying how others should do their jobs while we are comfortably sitting on our sofa, only that in recent days it seems to us that we have exaggerated a little. Among the infinite skills of the average Italian – which range from resolving the situation in the Middle East through health emergencies, social security and awarding prizes – there is also the organization of television schedules, especially Rai. Leaving aside the fact that whatever the upper levels had chosen would not have gone well, in the last few days there have been two pieces of news that have attracted the attention of the indignant: the landing of Carlo Conti in Sanremo 2025 and 2026 as host and artistic director and that of Stefano De Martino driving Your business after Amadeus, which in the meantime moved to the Nine.

It goes without saying that these two pieces of news have led hundreds of users to flock to social media and pour unprecedented hatred and envy, posting comments such as “there’s no limit to the worst” and “poor Rai” as if it were raining. We, who are far-sighted and remember that the same comments rained down on Amadeus in 2019 when it was decided that he would host Sanremo the following year, advise caution. Conti did very well at Ariston for three years, while Stefano De Martino is one of the freshest and brightest faces on our television. Sure, he’s young and still needs to grow up, but how will he ever be able to do that if no one will give him the chanceespecially considering that forty years ago all today’s professionals, from Carlucci to De Filippi, from Scotti to Fazio, started punching holes in the screen very early?

More than Conti, who remains a long-time professional, the reservations seem to be unleashed precisely on De Martino, who pays the price of not being born a conductor and of having a private life which the newspapers have splashed out in every way since his name came to the fore. Despite the age – Stefano De Martino was born in 1989 like Fedez and Taylor Swift – and the success of programs like Tonight anything is possiblewhich he inherited from Amadeus, making it his own and tailoring it, it seems that a good part of the public still doesn’t forgive him for his beginnings, and this is a shame, given that Stefano De Martino could serially be one of the few faces on which Rai could bet to freshen up his image. Let’s try not to stop at appearances and to wait before judging: It may be the most valuable lesson in a world where we are more interested in having our say than in actually seeing how things will turn out.