A new law of physics would be needed to explain the success of a program dedicated to this topic. Or perhaps, to frame “The Physics of Love”, the third law of dynamics, the principle of action and reaction, is enough: say the professor Vincenzo Schettini as a host and you will have a guaranteed audience.
The first episode of the Rai2 program reached a 7.3% share, surpassing even « Door to Door ». Over the course of the six episodes (the last one aired on Wednesday) the professor’s more than two million followers (on Instagram alone) made the show soar to 8% and many are already calling for a new season.
He is incredulous: «Really, I didn’t expect it. It’s not a given that if you have a following on social media you also have one on television, the languages are different, you have to be chameleon-like.” The reward, according to the professor – who, for those who don’t know, is a real professor, in fact while he speaks on the phone, a bell rings – was bringing a format to TV «with a liturgy of him. I haven’t talked about the renewal yet, I hope there will be a second season, many wrote to me saying that they would have liked to see it in prime time. Surely people are tired of the same old things. For many, “The Physics of Love” was a program to watch as a family, across generations.”
A fact, this, which is also the greater satisfaction for the prof. “Along with the news that many colleagues are showing it at school.” Having therefore passed with full marks for his debut on TV, Schettini reflects: «In recent years I have been offered many reality shows and I don’t judge those who make them, but I felt I had things to say. I should have brought myself on TV.”
And, consequently, his profession: «I have been working part time for four years to reconcile teaching with everything else, but I didn’t want to abandon it because “everything else” isn’t another world for me: it’s always a piece of teaching that, in this case, I bring to TV.”
Teaching had always fascinated him. Son of an artist, her mother was a drawing teacher: «Sometimes I happened to see her in class when I was little. I liked her: her, her spontaneity.” And so, once he returned home, «I bothered my brother, my cousins: I explained, I questioned, I repeated the lessons».
A performance that he believes is still the basis of his profession: «You have to be communicators. It is no coincidence that I was also fascinated by communication artists such as Pippo Baudo – so much so that every year at home I also organized my own Sanremo, forcing all my classmates to participate, re-proposing one of the songs – but also Bonolis, Fiorello… for me they also had great influences on my way of being a professor.”
The parallel with maestro Manzi recurs: «I’m happy when they tell me that I reawakened in the souls, even of some grandparents, the desire to study. My hope is that the message of love for culture reaches young people. In this sense, Rai opened its doors to me completely.”
Why did you become passionate about Physics? «Because I loved science fiction movies. I remember Sigourney Weaver’s impact on Alien: His spaceship was made up of scientific minds who went into space to discover other civilizations. It is no coincidence that these are themes that are also very linked to philosophy: the first scientists were the first thinkers. At university, faced with this complexity, I lost my breath.”
His talent, in teaching but also in disseminating, is having «charisma. I think it often makes a difference. And I think I’m empathetic.” Remember accurately the first day he finally took the chair: «It was the year 2006, I was working at Itis Ferrari in Molfetta and I was happy. I entered an all-male class and I still remember that move from the door to the desk as very emotional. Every day I covered 80 km on the way there and 80 on the way back, but how quickly that time passed: I was happy, even if obviously it’s not right that many temporary teachers have to use up their salary to work.”
Deciding to film himself with his mobile phone during his lessons, in class, was a fundamental step: «I followed gamers on YouTube and I was struck by how many followed them. As I asked myself: what can I do? Teach. I started to recover but then I forced my students to follow the videos, as a review, because I thought no one would watch me.” Now, on the web, he is a star. A success that is also thanks to his head teacher, who never held him back, on the contrary. «She has always been the same since I started working online. She encouraged me by telling me: you are the future. I’m lucky”.
Now the students compete to have him as a teacher. Not only for his lessons, but also for his ability to share messages. One, delicate, was when declared his homosexuality: «No one had ever asked me that in class. Hidden behind a screen, however, yes, they did. And since For me as a boy it hadn’t been very easy to talk about it with my parentsdespite being wonderful parents, I thought it was right: I would like it to be less difficult for others.”
He has been happily married since 2018. Does he want children? «We have never talked about it in concrete terms but I think it depends on the fact that the law in Italy does not allow us to adopt a child. We still have to fight for our rights.” Meanwhile, his quiff sends a signal: «It’s an act of rebellion against gravity: my quiff tells people to look upbecause the blue sky, above us and our depths, is always beautiful.”
