“How I was reborn” – Libero Quotidiano

2023 for Roberta Capua was “a terrible year» but now it’s time to be reborn and look forward. The presenter, currently on the staff of the Bella Ma’ program on RaiDue with Free retraces her career, which began with her election as Miss Italy, and the terrible pit stop last year which coincided with the separation from her husband, the entrepreneur from Bologna Stefano Cassoli, after a thirteen-year marriage, during which her only son Leonardo was born and before that, again last year, the death of her father and a few months later of her mother, Marisa Jossa, elected Miss Italy in 1959 by whom Roberta, the only case in the eight-decade history of the competition, of hereditary passing of the crown. Now the thought is for the future. Faced with those who have already placed her in the next cast of Dancing with the Stars, the presenter relaunches «I answered a question. They asked me if I would like to participate and I said yes, as to you Free I confess that I would really like it host a quiz show. My real dream would be that because I also watch them as a spectator and they are usually hosted almost exclusively by men.”

Roberta, like every year these days we’re back talking about a possible return of Miss Italy on TV. What do you think that you took your first steps in the beauty contest founded by Enzo Mirigliani?
«Miss Italia is a piece of the history of our country to which I will undoubtedly always be grateful and remain very attached because she really gave me so much, but today we must recognize that perhaps she has had her day and for this reason she has gone out of fashion a bit . Today girls are looking for a different visibility through the web. They all want to be influencers. Also because it must be said that young people don’t really watch TV. I tell you this as the mother of a teenage son. For them, only what happens on social media exists.”

So in a single answer he first dismantled Miss Italy, then television…
«I simply tell you what I think. Even if the competition were to return to TV it would no longer be the media event that stopped Italy in its tracks in the 90s which were the truly glorious years of the competition with Fabrizio Frizzi, Carlo Conti, following my election which was broadcast even in a lesser tone on Canale 5. Then this desire exploded which made Miss Italia truly very important…”

For example, wouldn’t you like to host a perhaps very modernized version of Miss Italia on TV?
«I think it’s very difficult to modernize something that is a sort of liturgy. You can’t twist it. It would be very difficult to change it.
I don’t even know what to think of a modern version. You could say that to lighten it you could focus attention only on the finalists as they do in international competitions but I don’t know if it would be enough to rekindle people’s interest.”

She loves to challenge herself. She was also the winner of the first edition of Master Chef Celebrity. So you’re also a great cook?
“Yes. I like cooking, so when I heard there were auditions for Master Chef I said why not? It was putting yourself out there through a passion. And it was one of the experiences that gave me the most satisfaction. Showing a skill that the audience doesn’t expect was rewarding, fun. Then afterwards it also became work, because immediately afterwards I made cooking programs for many years.”

So it seems she was never afraid of… smelling too much like sauce as someone reproached Clerici. Right?
«I find that joke absolutely stupid.
Antonella is a great professional who has brought a time slot like midday to the successes we know. Being pop is an added value and maybe everyone could be communicative like Antonella Clerici. But I hope it was said without thinking because I really don’t think you can intentionally say something so stupid.”

From when you became famous at a very young age to today, has TV changed for the better or for the worse? And what do you think about the expansion of the offer also in generalist TV which is no longer two poles but three or perhaps four considering Nove and La7?
«In one way it has changed for the better. There is a much wider offer. Everyone can truly choose with conscience what they want to watch and there is this possibility of enjoying it in a different way. Not only on the sofa at home but also on other devices. If you talk about contents, those too have adapted to the times. Today we watch many series, once upon a time there were dramas which then became fiction, then TV series. For the rest of the schedule, TV hasn’t actually undergone much renewal, especially in the generalist channels. To see something different and newer you have to go to the platforms and even there, however, we are starting to refer to generalist television as a model.”

Speaking of television audiences. Not everyone knows that Professor Ilaria Capua, a well-known virologist, is his cousin. Are you in contact? How do you take the fact that, especially in the Covid era, every now and then in the newspapers for example they exchanged your first names?
«Our fathers were brothers. However, we have always rarely seen each other because we have always lived in two different cities just as our work environments are profoundly different.
But as a family we are obviously extremely proud of her. Of what she has done and continues to do. It is a scientific excellence of our country.”

Staying in the family. Recently in an interview you announced that you had divorced your husband. You said you felt abandoned… Was your separation so traumatic?
«In reality it happened consensually. I spoke of a feeling of abandonment because I had come from a very hard year in which I lost my father and my mother in a very short time and I didn’t have a shoulder to cry on because at the same time we were facing the separation process which is always very complicated and painful. They are deep wounds but now I want to look forward with a smile. I’m 55 years old, I have a 16-year-old son, life goes on and I still have so many things to do, to see, to experience and I think that life can still surprise me…”.

A message, if you have one, for women who at 50 are left alone by their partners or husbands?
«If I managed to overcome this moment of such a strong crisis it is thanks to my friends. I believe very much in female solidarity when friendship is sincere. Each one helped me in a different way. Friendship is a fundamental value that I have always held in high regard, and now more than ever it has become central. I realized that without my friends I wouldn’t have made it, so I feel I have to be very grateful to them.”

The fact that even in politics female figures are emerging at the helm of the main parties and institutions. What signal is this in your opinion?
«I would say that it is finally the sign that things are changing. There is still a lot to do but it’s not like it used to be. No longer a profession exclusively reserved for men, even if there are still disparities to overcome, for example between salaries.”

His greatest hope.
«To be able to continue to be healthy. Also because I would like to become a grandmother and it will still take quite a few years.”