by Tiziana Petrelli
There will also be a bassist from Fano who has returned to play after a disabling accident, among the 100 Italian musicians selected by the biggest rock band in the world to perform on the Olimpico pitch on Wednesday 15 May, before the Italian Cup final. It is a story of courage, determination and tiring rebirth, both human and musical, which sees Diego Tancredi Cermaria, aka ‘Delirio’, as protagonist, 28 years of which the last five have been spent in hell and back.
His eyes are full of joy and pride as he talks about having been selected by Rockin’1000 among the 100 artists who will perform at the Olimpico “in front of the President of the Republic and the other high officials of the State – he underlines –, live on TV on Mediaset networks”. “It’s not my first time with Rockin’1000 – explains Cermaria – a band born in 2014 and which holds events all over the world. Last year I took part in the concert organized at the Cesena stadium for the flood victims of Emilia Romagna. It was an incredible emotion. This year, however, we will only play two songs, a medley of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and White Stripes and then a song for the players’ entrance onto the field. I will go to Rome on May 14th for the rehearsal general inside the Olimpico. It’s a dream come true.” A life spent for music, that of Diego, with the desire to become a great rock star.
“I started playing seriously at 13 years old – he says – in my historic group ‘Red Carpet’ which had three recording contract offers, we finalized one and opened concerts for artists such as The Giornalisti, Cosmo and 99 Posse… Then study commitments of the other members of the band, I started touring with Luca Vagnini’s band: we played among others with Marco Masini. Things were going well…”. Then came that cursed September 22, 2019, in which the talented ‘Delirio’ was hit by a car while crossing the pedestrian crossing at the intersection between via Gramsci and via Roma. A terrible crash, an 8 meter flight and death miraculously avoided.
“It took me 5 years to completely regain the coordination of my arms, to play as well as I once did – continues the 28 year old -. I still have something to recover, but it doesn’t affect on a musical level. On Saturday I play with the group L’Alba in Urbino where we have a musical project that gets us 80 thousand plays on Spotify. It all started with the song ‘Urbino dall’alto’. We opened Giorgio Poi’s concert”. It was very hard for him to get back on track. Come to think of it, a second miracle.
“That September 22nd changed my life and stole two years. I was in a coma for 40 days, then the long rehabilitation worsened by the Covid emergency and the lockdown. When I woke up from the coma, I was legally declared incapable of understanding and wanting. I was tied to a wheelchair for 6 months, with fractures from my toes to my head. I lost count of the most serious surgeries I had to undergo in recent years , it was that in the impact my skull was fractured in 7 places, they had to reconstruct the skullcap. Now I have a titanium plate in my head.” He picked up the bass again a year after the accident. “The first time I almost wasn’t able to play. It was a huge frustration. I first started thinking about giving up music altogether – he cries, remembering this – and for this reason I even attempted suicide. I thought I couldn’t recover and I I felt like a stranger to everything.” But now he plays with Rockin’1000. “Guys, never lose hope.”
