AGI – The album ‘Cuore’, from 1984, was “the album of my return to Rome and reappearing in something that can be welcoming”. Antonello Venditti talks about himself in a meeting with the press in the backstage of the Baths of Caracalla before the concert with which he opened the summer tour, entitled ‘Night before the exams 1984-2024 40th anniversary’ There are three Roman dates – yesterday, today and Friday 21 -, all sold out for weeks. And after the preview in Verona, crowned with success, the start arrived on the eve of the first test of the 2024 final exams, and the album has the hit ‘Night before exams’, a song which with its 86 million streaming (worldwide) and the Double Platinum certification, has managed to conquer entire generations including graduating students. “I’m very excited to sing in Rome- added the artist, in summer attire and the inevitable cigarette between his fingers – because I rediscover the perfection of a creative act. ‘Cuore’ is the most difficult album to sing for me, and I think it is for everyone.” Venditti underlines that he sings “not for those who have been but for those who will be”.
On the eve of final exams and so the now 75-year-old artist tells how he experienced it a few decades ago, it was 1966, “or maybe 1967?”. And so “I remember nothing of the night before the written exams, while of the oral exams, yes, they were the mathematics and physics oral exams. For some, the final exam was and is a nightmare, and when I did it they took all the subjects. ..I was never put off at school; I liked mathematics, while physics is something supernatural, but I did well, average of 7”. And always on the subject of her final exams, she remembers that she is a mentor and a friend of the heart was Oliviero Bartoletti, and he was so for several things: “He drove cars and motorbikes like a professional and taught me. He reminded me over time that we went to Florence for a motorbike ride and returned in time for the opening of the Giulio Cesare to take the exam mathematics”.
Venditti also says that ‘Night before exams'”it’s a dream, it’s something visionary, dreaming – I don’t know – Ariosto materializes, and I think Oliviero managed to tell me something during the exam. When you live your youth it’s hell, when you remember it it’s paradise.” Compared to the past, “today kids experience maturity in a more cohesive way than us. The group idea is very strong, I see a lot of solidarity among today’s kids.” And 40 years later, are you nostalgic? “There is never nostalgia, I was lucky because I always brought joy back with me.” his most beautiful song? “For me it was the first, ‘Sora Rosa’, 1972… And speaking of today’s artists, Venditti underlines that for example “Annalisa and Angelina Mango herself are ‘forced’ to be different from what they actually are artistically. And music critics should understand them, indeed “a new generation of music critics must be born”.
The tour project was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, and after the long summer part it will continue in December in the Palasports (with the dates of the 6th in Florence, the 11th in Bologna, the 13th in Assago, the 17th in Turin and the 20th in Rome). This week all the main digital platforms dedicate a special focus to the album, allowing fans to relive the emotions of timeless songs such as “Ci would have a friend”, “Piero and Cinzia” and indeed “Night before exams”. And there are numerous activities dedicated to the song that will accompany this period.
The message to graduates
When Antonello Venditti asked if among the audience attending his concert at the Baths of Caracalla there were boys and girls who would have to face the first tests of the final exams, many in the stands raised their hands, as if they were in a classroom at the teacher’s request. A number that impressed the artist, who with his tour celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the album ‘Cuore’ and therefore of the song ‘Notte prima degli exami’. Venditti responded with “thank you for coming, you have made this sacrifice. And I hope you don’t have to make the sacrifice in your life of giving up freedom, the possibility of saying no, the most difficult thing. I hope that these pine trees of Rome that are up here may they still accompany you for some time.” So, at the end of the performance of the famous song, “good luck”
Satire, politics and thoughts of suicide
During the press conference, Venditti touched on many points. From satire “it’s bad for politics, it’s something considered unbearable, so it makes me think that satire is a good way to break things…” to suicidal thoughts in the most difficult moment: “I was tempted to commit suicide. And even knowing how… But I knew how to drive the car so well that it was difficult for me to do so…”. Venditti said that he was going through a difficult period from a human point of view, linked to his family situation, and underlined that “suicide happens when the person is alone, so this is the importance of friendship”.
Friendship, for the singer-songwriter, is “the first true feeling: it has no boundaries, sex, political or economic division. Love is an imperfect friendship”. Love equals imperfect friendship because – according to the artist – “in some cases it is extreme selfishness, it creates fractures, violence, while it is very rare for friendship to create violence, indeed it dampens it”. In love there is “an idea of possession, which is not only narcissistic. And yet I have never known of someone who kills ‘out of friendship’…”. So what is the border line?, the reporter’s question. Answer: “It’s sex, it’s a yes or no…”.
