Of
Alessio Di Sauro
The Hollywood star at the Anteo Cinema to present the film on the Dalai Lama. The holidays in Amalfi and the skirmishes with Salvini. The wife he met in a hotel in Positano who didn’t recognize him: «I thought he was George Clooney
We are republishing this article by Alessio Di Sauro, one of the most appreciated by our readers in 2025.
Officer and gentleman. He was in Hollywood in the film of the same name which projected him to the honors of the big screen, but Richard Gere he wore those clothes – and more than once – in Italy too. More: here, in the country that he has always said he loves like a second home and that he is traveling far and wide for present the screening of the film about the Dalai Lama «The wisdom of happiness»on the occasion of Tenzin Gyatso’s 90th birthday (in Milan, at the Cinema Anteo with the Buddhist monks) there has never been any fiction that held up.
“Official” it was when boarded the Open Arms to bring food and blankets to the 147 migrants on board the Catalan NGO ship blocked off the coast of Lampedusa by the then Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini – to whom he did not spare some even too veiled digs («It is surprising that such a Christian country does not welcome those who disembark – he said – help our brothers saved from the sea») -; However, he revived his qualities as a gentleman in Positanowhere he impressed the Spanish owner of the Villa Treville hotel. She, Alejandra Silvadespite falling in love at first sight with that exceptional guest who would later become her husband, due to the age difference (she was born in 1983, he was born in 1949). at first glance he recognized his magnetism but not his name: «I thought it was George Clooney»he admitted.
But no: if Danny Ocean’s interpreter appreciates lakes above all, so much so as to have purchased a villa on the banks of the Lario, he, theAmerican Gigolò, spring 75, prefers the sea insteadas evidenced by the numerous holiday incursions in which he was paparazzi in the beautiful country. Despite the Buddhist faith he embraced as a boy and the campaigns in favor of Tibet’s independence – which also took him on a pilgrimage in 2019 together with his son Homer to the Lama Tsongkhapa Buddhist institute in Pomaia, Pisa – Gere’s life was never a monastic.
The shots of recent years have immortalized him over and over again by motorboat off the coast of Taormina, Amalfi and Giglio Islandto the delight of local merchants and administrators: the Calabrian vice-president Giusi Princi invested him with the role of «ambassador of Calabria in the world» when, it was 2020, the star revealed himself in Catanzaro to attend the Magna Graecia Film Festival. Gere was a neophyte in the land of the Bronzes, but he earned the nomination on the microphones: «It’s my first time here – he confided -. Seeing these wonderful coasts and hills from the plane is exceptional, keep this enchantment in secret so that it remains so beautiful for longer.”
To avoid any misunderstanding, the appreciation for our country is transversal: «If I could I would be Italian – he confessed a few months ago, as a guest of Fabio Fazio -, I grew up in a small town, the only cool kids were the Italians. We all wanted to be one.”
Someone took him at his word, unfortunately for him: his photo and name ended up on someone’s identity card Roman swindler who, taking advantage of a very distant resemblance, passed himself off as the star deceiving unsuspecting web users interested in renting holiday homes in various areas of Italyfrom whom he robbed over 100 thousand euros in deposits before disappearing into thin air. The fake Richard Gere was arrested by the police, but no one on the web noticed the misunderstanding: and to protect the reputation of the late “Honorary Consul” of the big screen, even the ambassador had to intervene. The real one.
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December 28, 2025
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