“He was positive, but also unsure. When they insinuated that he didn’t write his books himself, he couldn’t sleep at night.” Roberta, the widow, brings one of her husband’s shows to the theatres: “In certain sentences I seem to hear him speaking”
“It’s a bit like continuing to relive the same grief. It’s not easy. But when I feel the appreciation, the affection that people have towards Giorgio, I tell myself that it makes sense. The pain is repaid by the gratitude that I receive.” For ten years, Roberta Bellesini Faletti has done everything she can to keep alive the memory of her husband Giorgio Faletti, who died of cancer on July 4, 2014 – Photo | video
THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY – He does this by republishing his books, like Damn the world that this is under your feether debut in the bookstore, in 1994, with the exploits of her character Vito Catozzo, who returns to the bookstore at the end of June. But also by making her work speak in a new way. She succeeded with the graphic novel based on her first bestseller, I killreleased by Nave di Teseo in 2022 (adapted by Andrea Cavaletto and with illustrations by David Ferracci and Assia Ieradi) and with the show The last sunny day: a monologue and eight musical lyrics which Faletti would also have liked to direct. «He didn’t make it in time. We debuted one year after his death, on July 4, 2015. For the tenth anniversary, a new version arrives with the musicians on stage.” Last May, the zero date in Mantua at the Bibiena theatre, «such a success that it thrilled us», he says. «On July 4th it was supposed to be staged at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan but the leading actress, Chiara Buratti, fell ill. We hope to resume it in September.” He adds: «In certain sentences you really seem to hear Giorgio speaking. After dozens of performances there are still moments when I feel like crying.”
Giorgio Faletti, his wife Roberta Bellesini speaks: “I’ll tell you about my love” – guard
Giorgio Faletti was good at reinventing himself: cabaret artist, musician, writer, actor. Would theater directing be his new challenge? “He loved trying new things. He also wanted to go back to writing for other people, but no longer with comedies like he had done at the beginning.”
Even in the musical field, in addition to participating in Sanremo in 1994 with the song Signor lieutenant, with which he came second and won the critics’ prize, he had written songs for many performers. «Yes. For Mina, Angelo Branduardi…While for Milva and Gigliola Cinquetti he had composed two entire albums».
Would he have finished with novels? “No. Being a writer was his profession when he grew up.”
He said that in The Last Day of the Sun there is a bit of all of Giorgio, his vision of life. «He was always a very positive person, even in moments of difficulty. After his cancer diagnosis, he was offered two options: treatment in Italy or Los Angeles. Neither of us had ever been there and we had no one to help us. I told him: “You choose”. He replied that he preferred the United States, “because right now I need to get away from Italy and because, whatever happens, we will get to know a new city together”. Some friends had come to visit us in Los Angeles and I had organized a tour of places to see. He was tired and every now and then he complained. “Well, in short, you also have to cheat on your identity card and forget your years”, I told him, teasing him. And he said: “I can cheat on the years, but I think I still can’t do it on the cancer”.
Giorgio Faletti’s funeral, the farewell of lifelong friends – guard
His first memory? «Actually, I have two. One related to Sunday evenings when I was about 14 and my parents allowed me to watch Drive In. The other, however, to our city, Asti. I must have been 18-19 years old. In front of the historic bar of the meeting place, there was a Ferrari from which we saw Giorgio and a model with two very long legs get out. “See, now she wants to show that she’s successful and has a really hot girlfriend!”, was the comment of my friends.
Well, how long-legged she was a confirmation. «Giorgio was 1.75 m tall, I was 1.83 m tall. Heels were banned.”
You first met at a friend’s house to watch a match from Euro 2000. And then? “I worked in the architecture firm that was renovating a house that Giorgio had bought for his mother. Every now and then he would come to check on the work and we would have a chat. But months had passed between the European Championships and the first dinner out.”
Were you afraid of getting engaged to a well-known person? “Absolutely! I was paranoid. But Giorgio was a very normal person. He went shopping at the general markets, he loved cooking and wanted to choose the ingredients. What also scared me was the age difference: twenty years. But in the end, of the two of us, he was the kid.”
Look, did he have at least one flaw? «He was cumbersome and he knew it. He had to be the center of attention. If perhaps he went somewhere and they said to him: “But why didn’t Roberta come too?”, he replied: “But I’m the artist!”. He was joking, but…”
He was also very insecure. «And for that reason he found it difficult to not care about certain judgments from critics or gossip. Like when they said he didn’t write his books. Instead of letting it go, he mulled it over. In bed he couldn’t fall asleep, I could hear him tossing and turning.”
He said he loved to compliment his colleagues. Anyone in particular? «Luciana Littizzetto, a dear friend, also from Piedmont. He followed her on TV and if a joke struck him in particular, he called her. And she had a wonderful relationship with Nicolas Vaporidis, with whom she had worked in Night before exams e Reinforced concrete. The people connected to Giorgio are still part of our world. I say our because I still work on his projects.”
He still has his computer and Giorgio’s next to him next to it on the desk? «I removed yours last year, simply for work reasons. But he didn’t go far, I put him in the closet behind me.”
Is there something you do every Fourth of July in his memory? «I am a believer and therefore I always have mass celebrated in the afternoon with the historic priest who knew him well. His lifelong friends from when he was still a boy participate, and afterwards we all go to dinner together. Being together in a convivial way was what he loved most.”
Enrica Brocardo
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