Abramo remains unbeatable, even with a little help from the highest levels. But Bernie came very close, becoming father for the fourth time at 89 years old in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Moreover, the arrival of the only male after three females was worth the wait: little Ace is in excellent health and is already raging on racetracks around the world at the hands of mother Fabiana and father Ecclestone. In Italy no one has gone this far. An exception was made by the recently deceased designer Roberto Cavalli, who became the father of Giorgio, his sixth child, a year ago, at the age of 82.
Today he holds the record Franco Breviniprofessor of Italian literature at the University of Bergamo, 73 years old in July: on March 20th at 5.13pm he hung the eighth ribbon of his life on the door, this time pink, with the birth of Beatrice, who arrived after five boys (Carlo, Elia, Giacomo, Vittorio and Tommaso, aged 35, 11, 8, 5 and 2 years) and two girls (Costanza and Costanza, aged 37 and 30). «Me and my wife Tiziana we got a taste for it», he jokes with the Courier. «We are tested. However, apart from when we invoke Herod, we are very happy and convinced that this is one of the few things for which It’s really worth living». He feels changed since his first fatherhood, which now dates back to the last century. «I told it in my book A second chance (La Quadra publishing, ed). In general, it is an emotion that is renewed and every newborn is different from the others: The moments we spend together are not part of Greek kronosbut of kairòs, the time of fulfillment of our life.” Woe betide you if you ask him if he has problems picking up his children: “But I’m a mountaineering instructor!”.
The first one was good
The actor and playwright Geppy Gleijeses, born in 1954turned 67 eight days after the birth of her last child, the beloved Ginevra, the September 28, 2021. He tells us: «When my partner, Roberta Lucca, and I decided to have her, the gynecologist suggested I do a spermiogram. But after we tried it, the first one was good! The eldest son Lorenzo is 43 years old. «Today I feel like a different father. When he was born I was 26 years old, I had recently become the youngest comedian in Italy, I went on endless tours, I came home and found him grown by an inch.” Geneva’s presence, for him, is “regenerating”. «He IS a little devil: at two and a half years old he turns on the TV, puts on Netflix and chooses what to watch. He says things to his mother like: “I like you”. Our ritual is breakfast, when we share the bresaola.” The thought of the future worries him a little. «I hope to see her grow. But I know that she has a mother who adores her and I, somewhere in the universe, will be at her side.”
Ethics and aesthetics
Another dad in the second round, almost 67 years oldAnd Piero Sansonetti: today he is 73. The director ofUnit he has four children: two already grown up, Davide and Daniele, and Luna and Tiago, aged 6 and 3. However, he doesn’t feel like a different father: «What is different is the worry that one day I will have to leave them, it’s a thought I never had before. But in the meantime I enjoy them: they are beautiful and very intelligent, something for which I have very little credit. I enjoy discovering them, hearing their questions. A few days ago Tiago, as we passed the Janiculum, asked me: “Do you prefer the Fontanone or the carousel?”. It’s an extraordinary philosophical question, between ethics and aesthetics. She made me happy all day.” It seems like a geological era has passed since Doctor Thin, at the time Treasury Minister, lost the proverbial aplomb to lash out against the so-called father-grandfathers. «If a man at 80 has a child, He’s just doing it to get fuckedwithout thinking that ten years later it might no longer be there”, as Maria Latella reported her outburst on Courier. With few changes, the statement appeared in all the press outlets. What was surprising, of course, was the choice of the verb, sweetened in the titles. Giuliano Amato was picking on Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow, who after 5 marriages and three children had become a father again (he died five years later, in 2005).
Growing
Istat calculates that in Italy the average age of a father with his first child is 35.79 years. «From the 1990s to today it has increased by 10 years, placing us at the top of the ranking in Europe», explained Alessandro Palmieri, president of the Italian Society of Andrology. «Cultural, economic and biological reasons make men more likely to postpone, over 45-50 years of age: they will be fathers-grandfathers before the child reaches adulthood.” One of them is the host Carlo Conti. With us he reflects: «I feel inadequate when I go to pick up Matteo from school and I realize that I am the same age as some grandparents. But my job helps me.” For him, who is 63 years old and has been a father for ten, he thinks he is no longer old enough only when he has to move his son in his arms from the bed to the bedroom. «The back protests», he jokes. She is one of those fathers who wanted to witness the birth: «I also made a video of Francesca. As soon as Matteo came into the world I sang “Happy Birthday to you” to him. He was the last child born at Villa Donatello in the film My friends». Now more than ever, father-son chats are special. «The day before yesterday he surprised me by asking me if Jesus sees in our thoughts…». For the future, she has a clear maxim: «Children must be given wings and roots. This is what I try to do with Matteo: leave him free, but make him understand that his mother and I will always be there».
Growing
Fatherhood after the age of 50 is increasing worldwide. And not just when talking about actors like Richard Gere (he had his last two children at 70 and 71) o Robert De Niro (new father just a few months shy of 80). «Many studies tell us that the children of an elderly father run a greater risk of neuropsychiatric disorders and tumors such as neuroblastoma and leukemia», warns Luca Boeri, andrologist at the Milan Polyclinic. But he doesn’t discourage dads. «They must be aware: for women the “cut-off” is 35 years, for men there is no official indication».
And he seemed very old, but he wasn’t, Vittorio Gassman, who had Jacopo at the age of 58. «I never told him: dad, you’re ancient – he told us years ago -. He passed on so many of those things to me that I feel privileged. And if we played football, he always tried to win.”
