«I go on tiptoe, I have a smile for everyone, I carry a bicycle, I keep my head down, sometimes they beat me»: this is the summary – his – of the life of Vittorio Brumotti, bike trials champion, sent (by bike , obviously) of The news spreads with two landlines (the shop and the parking for disabled people), from Monday once again (the twelfth) host of Paperissima Sprint (Channel 5, Monday to Sunday, 8.35pm).
Where does this vocation for justice come from?
«My dad is a former carabiniere, my uncle was a general of the carabinieri. The sense of rules is in my blood. The fact is that I love doing homework, and seeing that there are unfinished works in Italy means that someone hasn’t done their homework. I am motivated by an inner strength, it is a vocation, like faith for priests. I was born like this.”
The lighting?
«I remember when we riders went to certain squares to do our tricks, we filmed ourselves with Go-Pros and the drug dealers beat us to send us and the kids who were playing away, a rage… The police told us that it was they knew how things were but that it was still better to leave. Thus the first service was born, it was a great success, because the same situation is repeated in many small parks in Italian cities. Many citizens, many indignant mothers began to contact us: thus we became a public service.”
She empties a square, but then other drug dealers arrive: it seems like a useless and endless job.
«I always look for the ringleader, the one who manages the drug dealers, not the simple pusher. For them it’s a double whammy, in a satirical news program we give the turning point to many investigations. This in itself is a source of pride.”
How many attacks have you suffered?
«From punches in the face to breaking my jaw, up to “simple” intimidation, I have experienced it all. I’ve lost count now, there must be hundreds.”
The time you were most afraid?
«The first gunshots are never forgotten: it happened in San Basilio, in Rome. I also had a bad time at Zen in Palermo.”
Ever thought about giving up?
«People are rooting for me, I receive thousands of reports inviting me not to give up, I am a simple citizen without an escort who puts his face to it, mine is a battle to regain possession of the territory».
What hurts you more than beatings?
«The children who insult me, because it means that there is an emergency: a child cannot hate someone who does free style and sends the bad guys away as if he were some sort of superhero, as happens in the films. How can they hate this stuff? It means that the situation is serious.”
Do you feel like a superhero on your bike?
«I’m not a superhero. I am real, I am the mirror of an Italian who grew up in a very normal family, who tries to do his best. But I feel invulnerable because I feel the warmth of the people who love me, like a karma that protects me. It means I’m doing my homework well.”
Is the bike your drug?
“I’m a rotten bike addict.”
Its other core business, in addition to the drug dealing squares, is the reporting of those who park in spaces reserved for disabled people.
«They target a weak category and don’t care. Someone whose car is maxed out gets a fine, but he doesn’t care, he pays and starts again. I thought that something more punitive was needed, like a public pillory: throwing his face on television, so people would think: what a piece of shit.”
What did you find in Antonio Ricci?
«We have a father-son relationship. But today because of him I can’t park badly, I have to wear my seat belt, I can’t take drugs, I have to go straight. In the morning I leave the house already stressed because I know I shouldn’t make mistakes.”
He must have had a boy’s joint. Or not?
“But it goes, I’ve been competing since I was 11 and we have anti-doping: we couldn’t go wrong, it’s a poor sport, not even with the urine test we couldn’t fake it.”
