A Forlì native who has been in Trieste for 30 years. For a life choice “made partly out of love, partly because I am instinctive. When I arrived I had to start from scratch, without work and without a home. Today I can say, in homage to a master and a friend, unfortunately disappeared, to be a bit like the Sante Montanari of Trieste. That is to say that in Trieste everyone knows me and I know almost everyone”.
Francesco Bruni, born in 1955, was one of the best photographers in the Forlì area until 1994. “I started in the ’80s: I worked for the Gazzette, I collaborated for Autosprint and for ‘Giganti del Basket’, then for Il Messaggero when it opened in Romagna. At the end of the ’80s, after the inauguration of the Palafiera, I became the first photographer in Italy to taking basketball photographs from above using that corridor that was just under the roof of the Palafiera above the scoreboard. My first photo from above, a ball between Mark Landsberger and Nino Pellacani, became a cover of ‘. Giants'”.
Then what happened?
“In 1990 I separated. In October 1993 I went to Trieste for work, I met a girl and in 1994 I decided to move about 350 kilometers away”.
How was the impact in Trieste?
“At the beginning it was very hard, but Trieste gave me a lot. The people from Romagna are jovial, outgoing, smiling people, while the people from Trieste are closed and you have to win them over with professional, human seriousness and availability. In 1997 I began to collaborate with the Small, a collaboration that continues today. From 2000 to 2015 I also worked for Illy, for Generali, the Port Authority, I did exhibitions, two books and now I’m preparing the third.”
And has he always followed his beloved basketball?
“Of course. I arrived in Stefanel’s last year, then the club moved to Milan: a shock. I saw the club fail, then be reborn and I have always been there, for work, but not only. When we were in Serie B, I was the only photographer working at home games and so I have Trieste in my heart a bit.”
And how do you see the series that begins on Sunday?
“Winning in Forlì will be tough for Trieste, it can only be done if everyone is in top form. The 3-0 against Torino galvanized everyone, after a championship made up of ups and downs in which the team did not always perform at its best” .
Which players should Forlì fear?
“Ruzzier is the decisive and most important player, Brooks and Reyes are also strong. I know well that Forlì is missing a foreigner…”.
Will you come to Romagna to follow the series?
“Unfortunately not, even though Forlì and my true Romagna friends are always in my heart. I only come when I can to visit my beloved daughters, Evelin, 42, and Silvia, 41, and to hug my granddaughter Mila, 9.”
Stefano Benzoni
