Franco Gigante
The journalist Franco Gigante, from Castellaneta, registered in the professional register of the national order of journalists, began writing about football in the mid-sixties for the regional weeklies Il Gazzettino and NuovoSud, and about music in the national periodicals Ciao2001 and NuovoSound. As a musical correspondent he has followed the Sanremo Festival for years. «In 1982 I was a correspondent for the Corriere del Giorno and I was called on stage to represent the regional newspapers, together with Sandro Mayer for the weeklies and Mario Fegiz for the national newspapers: we countersigned the envelope with the name of the winner indicated by Giucas Casella who was open to our presence on the final evening: there was the name of Riccardo Fogli, winner of that year with the song “Storie di tutti i giorno”». He followed almost all the editions of Un Disco per l’Estate in Saint Vincent, Gondola d’Oro in Venice and Vela d’Oro in Riva del Garda. «On the stage of the Saint Vincent Summer 1978 I took part in a musical game paired with Fred Bongusto and broadcast for the first time in color by Rai; among the other artists of that edition there were also Mia Martini, Patty Pravo, Franco Califano, Renato Zero, Tozzi, Pooh, Oxa and Venditti». He is a music correspondent for the national news agency Italpress, is a music critic for the regional newspapers Corriere Adriatico di Ancona, Il Centro di Pescara, Giornale di Sicilia, and collaborates with Nuovo Quotidiano di Puglia and Buonasera Taranto. In his career he has also written for the newspapers Corriere Mercantile di Genova, Il Giornale di Reggio, Nuovo Molise, La Gazzetta del Popolo, La Provincia di Como, Il Giornale di Calabria, La Voce di Reggio, Calabria Ora and La Gazzetta dello Sport. He was director of the periodical Contatto, of the television broadcaster RTM and of Radio 94 Taranto. As a press office, he handled the communication of the Centenary of the Birth of Rudolph Valentino, the Putignano Carnival, CantaGargano, the Ercole d’Oro, the Ludovico National Youth Football Tournament, the Rudolph Valentino Foundation, the Sagra da Farnedd and the Flavors of Puglia, the International Rudolph Valentino Award Economy, Finance, Communication and Research, Valentino d’Argento, Mandarino d’Oro, International Prize Città di Valentino, International Musical Competition Crisalide, International Piano Performance Competition Città di Valentino, Comunità L’Incontro, Carnival of Castellaneta, Miss and Mister Bellezza Jonica, Miss Castellaneta Marina; Institutions and private individuals to whom he provides, or has provided, the work of communications officer are the Municipalities of Castellaneta and Palagiano, CIA Area Due Mari Taranto and Brindisi, Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, GAL Places of Myth and Ravines, Comunità Montana of the Murgia Tarantina, Diocese of Castellaneta, Discoteca Nafoura of Castellaneta, Discoteca DNA of Ginosa Marina, Caffè del Cavaliere of Matera, Colombata Famosa 1867 of Massafra, Jonica Eventi, Greenergy, Lega Navale Castellaneta. In the early seventies he began his career as a dee-jay in Saint Vincent (Aosta), to subsequently continue it at Blu Moon in Marina di Ginosa and at Bi.Blu.Ar. by Martina Franca. In the mid-seventies he created Radio Gieffe Castellaneta together with other music enthusiasts. «It was one of the first ‘free’ Italian radio stations in Puglia which I shared with some entrepreneurs on the economic side and with many promising young dee-jays; the radio gave citizens a voice with dedication programs and also had specific strips of various musical genres.” In the sporting field he was manager of the Milan Club Castellaneta and of the Castellaneta Calcio team, awarded the 2000 CONI Award and the 1992 and 2003 FIGC merit awards. «Both the Stars of sporting merit were awarded to me in Rome, in 1992 by the president Antonio Matarrese and in 2003 by president Franco Carraro: on both occasions there was a lot of emotion.” He promoted and organized the Ludovico national youth football tournament for almost twenty years together with other sportsmen. He served as station manager in the Italian State Railways in Bari Centrale, San Basilio Mottola and Castellaneta Campagna.
