Lucio Presta tells all about the breakup with Amadeus: “It went like this.” Photo and video

Lucio Presta removes a few pebbles from his shoes and reveals how the very successful Sanremo Festival was born with the artistic direction of Amadeus. And he claims that after the breakup the famous TV host still has to pay him some fees: “For this reason the legal office was given instructions to protect my interests.” – photo | video

Amadeus, the farewell to Rai is official: “It was not an easy choice. Now it’s time for new challenges” – Look

THE SANREMO FESTIVALS – There has been a long partnership between the two, which reached its peak with the five editions, from 2020 to 2024, of the Sanremo Festival. But now that everything between them is over, Lucio reveals much of the truth about him to Newspaper, explaining that Amadeus, in his first edition as artistic director, did not even know “where one could begin to formulate a regulation and what follows from it, what the rights and duties of the Artistic Director of the Festival were”. He recalls that with the host and his family «I spent a few days in La Coruña, Spain, to write the entire regulation which he then brought to Rai as his work». But for Lucio «it wasn’t important. I was happy that the Rai leadership knew that Amadeus was prepared and above all that they had entrusted the Festival into the right hands.” Not only. The entertainment agent also takes charge of the choice of co-hosts: «Amadeus didn’t even know many of the women you saw on the Ariston stage (Rula Jebreal for example)». Then he presented them to her during “a dinner or lunch, regularly offered and supervised by the undersigned”. For example «Giorgina Rodriguez, Sabrina Ferilli, Ornella Muti. In order to have Giorgina, Cristiano Ronaldo’s wife, I organized a rehearsal room in Turin at my expense and sent the choreographer Franco Miseria to prepare the tango that she brought to the stage. Thus I prevented her from moving from Turin and away from Cristiano and the children.” This attention «gained me the respect of Ronaldo who was a free guest at the Festival».

Amadeus leaves and Rai already has plan B ready – Look

RESPONSES TO JOURNALISTS – Lucio goes further. And he explains that it was he who answered the journalists’ questions, which he only had the host review: «Then we sent them to the newspapers as if he had written them. The same was true for the promos, the ads that we shot with my phone and brought to Tg1, after also creating the graphics to reveal the names of the guests that we kept secret from everyone.” And the agent also mentions the presence of Sergio Mattarella at the 2023 edition: «Don’t ask me how it could happen, but that dream I cherished came true. Added to this was the great gift of Roberto Benigni who spoke about our Constitutional Charter and Gianni Morandi who sang the Mameli Hymn. I believe, without any arrogance, that it was the highest moment in the history of the Sanremo Festival.”

Amadeus and his wife Giovanna Civitillo: one kiss leads to another… – Look

THE BREAK – Until, he continues to explain to the Newspaper, Lucio realized last September that something in his relationship with Amadeus no longer worked. But also that «two of my close collaborators, welcomed for years not only into the company but also into my life, began a direct and secret relationship with Amadeus, speaking badly of the undersigned and indicating professional paths that he could exploit, violating the secrets of company they worked for.” And he recalls: «Amadeus asked me and my son Niccolò for an appointment as producer of Suzuki Arena», musical variety. In the meeting, the host would have asked that «he be paid by the company for the artistic direction and that he be recognized 100 percent of the ownership rights of the format. Request not collectable. Management which was already paid by Rai which had entered into an agreement with Arcobaleno Tre, owner of the format”. The agent tries to clarify to him «that not only can he not boast those titles, but that the Rai Supervisory Commission has prohibited the possibility that artists can take money from the producers of the programs they host». However, his son Niccolò gives in to the insistence and «recognizes him 90 thousand euros, in addition to those paid in previous years and which are also not due. Money that Ama regularly invoiced with the wording “artistic direction”, thus contravening the Rai Supervision circular”. Lucio still doesn’t know how to explain this behavior: «I think he was pushed to do it, I don’t recognize him in this gesture. After having collected the above invoice, on 3 December 2023, Ama lei asked for a new appointment, set for 14 December where she announced to me her intention to interrupt the relationship after the end of the Festival”. Instead, the breakup took place first, again at the behest of Amadeus, a few days later: «On that occasion he confirmed to me that he would honor the payment of my dues until the end of the contract (August 2024) except that in January he informed me, through the brother-in-law (his accountant), who intended to pay only until December. For this reason, the legal office was given instructions to protect my interests.” Obviously, this is Lucio Presta’s version and Amadeus will probably reply. But the agent is keen to say: «This is the true story of how things went between Amadeus and myself. Of course I have documentary evidence and witnesses. I wanted to clarify this because Amadeus said in the press conference: “Presta knows what he did”, implying who knows what. Otherwise, as is my well-known habit, I would never have talked about the end of our relationship. Gratitude is the feeling of the eve and the rancorous syndrome of the beneficiary is a syndrome attributable to our times and also to great people.”

Amadeus explains in a video the reasons for his farewell to Rai – Look

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