20 years have passed since Tonio Cartonio left Melevisione forever, one of the most loved characters by those who were children or little more in the 2000s. The Rai3 program was very popular and one of the reasons was precisely the character of the elf played by Danilo Bertazzi who, however, on 5 February 2024, with the broadcast of the episode Tonio’s feat, left the show and threw thousands of children, accustomed to his magical and fairy-tale stories, into despair. “Why did you leave?”, this is the question that the children of the time, now in their thirties, continued to repeat to him incessantly. “Why did you leave us?”, adults ask themselves today, remembering that farewell with sadness. And Bertazzi, actor and TV author, who is now 64 years old, has finally explained the real reasons behind his decision. Misunderstandings with the director, personal considerations, an illness that had debilitated him. Not an easy choice, nor economic reasons or other projects on the horizon: «So much so that I didn’t do anything for two years, it took two years for me to return to TV. I paid for that choice”, he explains on TikTok. But this is not why today he apologizes to his little spectators of the early 2000s, whom he had led by the hand in Fantabosco for 5 years. «I feel guilty when I see Tonio’s farewell because I know I have caused you disappointment and I apologize for this, forgive me», he says today with a smile and a voice slightly cracked by emotion.
Heart disease and surgery
Bertazzi explains today that there was no single reason why his relationship with her ended Melevision. But there were several, and the final decision was his. After several second thoughts and a sleepless night, the one preceding the official communication in the Rai offices. «I was grabbed by the hair and had my first heart surgery», the actor immediately says, «this changes your perspective on life, it makes you think about another meaning of things. But I remember that I was in hospital and I was very worried about being replaced, about never returning to Fantabosco.” Bertazzi, still in hospital, called the authors and the producer to reassure them about his health conditions and ensure that, as soon as possible, he would be reinstated in the team. «I came back when I was still not well, the authors had invented a story about a Fantabosco disease. So I could lie in bed with my pajamas because you must know that under my pajamas I still had all the cannulas for the IV drips I did every day”, recalls the TV author, who then made Trebisonda and worked with Geppi Cucciari, “but the my desire was to return, for fear of being removed from the program and never returning to Fantabosco.”
The relationship with the director and the existential crisis
But in fact, there wasn’t a single reason for the farewell. «A fundamental thing for us actors is to feel loved, the need to have confirmation, reassurance. I had a wonderful relationship with the first director of Melevisione, perhaps also because we were starting an adventure together that we didn’t know how it would proceed, there was great complicity and great affection”, he reveals today, “with the second director I didn’t I felt so loved, nor protected and therefore I always had the feeling that he only cared about me because I was already there and he couldn’t do otherwise.” Bertazzi then explains the difficult coexistence between Tonio and Danilo, the character and the person: «I was losing Danilo, for everyone I was Tonio, even at work and even at home. And even if Tonio is made up of Danilo, the character was taking over my life and my person.” And here Bertazzi stops and bursts out laughing: «Help, I’m making a mess! Guys, I have to go back to analysis”, he jokes with me followers.
The last episode
After a sleepless but decisive night, Bertazzi announces his final decision: he will leave the program. But he cannot leave his little spectators without an explanation. And this is how the farewell episodes must be recorded, the ones that still make him feel guilty watching them today, to prepare the children for his exit from Fantabosco. «It was right to give an explanation about Tonio’s farewell, about why Tonio would no longer be there to talk to them», «I didn’t leave because I had another job option, I didn’t work for over two years. And then immediately after that hoax about my death came out, which maybe one day I’ll tell you about.”
@danilobertazzi Reply to @Jenny Why I left Melevisione❓ #melevisione #toniocartonio #nostalgia #nostalgia90an #rai ♬ original sound – Danilo Bertazzi
