the inspiration. His loves include football. In short, Rome, the city. On his 75th birthday, Carlo Verdone sealed his ties to the Capital by occupying the highest office in the city for twenty-four hours.
The film attacks: the local police band plays the soundtrack of ‘Un Sacco Bello’, written by Ennio Morricone, while the actor climbs the steps of the Capitol. “I will now take command,” he said with a tricolor sash across his chest. It was the start of a symbolic day envisioned by Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, who referred to Alberto Sordi’s precedent with Francesco Rutelli. “I’m very happy to be here, precisely because Alberto did it 25 years ago”, recalls Verdone, between anecdotes and smiles: “I met him at Cinecittà and he told me: ‘Let’s go’. He invited me to eat and repeated: ‘But I won’t be mayor for three hours, I have to sleep'”. Her emotions were visible from the moment she arrived: “A few tears came out,” she admitted as she entered the Palazzo Senatorio to applause. And he added an intimate sentence: “If I understand Rome, its poetry and its shortcomings, I owe it to my parents.”
And he immediately started working on the council where two memories were approved: the activation of the dentistry and social psychology point at Tor Bella Monaca and new measures to support the Roman bookstore. Then a tour of the suburbs: “City centers are doing well or nearly so. The suburbs are laboratories of ideas, of creativity, of communities that do good. Here it is inequality, not degradation.” Many people welcomed him at Villa Gordiani. Inaugurate the play area, plant a tree, take a selfie.
“I also play in parks, but they are much more secluded. Anything that can be done for children and teenagers is something sacred.” Roma, he said, “was a great mother who embraced everyone.” The second stop was a party at the senior center in Storta, in the northernmost suburbs: orecchiette, lasagna, cacio e pepe, saltimbocca and birthday cake. “I always don’t drink alcohol, but here I made a small exception.” Afternoon, Tragliatella: construction site, residents, jokes. “I want to know the part furthest from the center,” he asked. And he smiled at Gualtieri: “If he doesn’t do his job well… vote for me and we’ll work it out.” A visit to the Teatro Valle, which will reopen in 2026, preceded a return to the Capitol for a speech in Julius Caesar Hall, where emotions once again came to the surface: “Today was an overwhelming emotion. I barely slept for three hours. This embrace of Rome… I believed and hoped that it would go this way and it did.”
Videos Verdone Mayor of Rome for a day
Then a reflection: “The Rome of the 80s no longer exists. But the world is moving forward. We need to build for the future.” And the memories related to “Un Sacco Bello”: “I really love and love this city and I have shown it with my first small film that was born thanks to the trust that Sergio Leone put in me”. In the courtroom were his children, his wife, his sister Silvia, his brother-in-law Christian De Sica. Among the seats is also former mayor Francesco Rutelli, who is questionable given Sordi’s memory. Gualtieri thanked the actor: “You dedicated this day to the community that needs it most. Roma loves you very much. It’s mutual, isn’t it?”, quoting Furio, one of the most iconic characters. In the end Gualtieri revealed the director’s ‘interesting’ proposal for Rome: “The creation of a book and antiquities market as part of the rebuilding of the Via Veneto, at the beginning of the Villa Borghese. Then he asked us questions, and gave us an idea: about a closed cinema that could be rebuilt. A precise and interesting idea that we will work on.” However, the day was over. The sash was returned to the mayor, who gave him the Capitoline Wolf. His last hug was long and sincere. Verdone greeted Roma like a grateful son: “It was the most beautiful gift I ever received,” said Verdone. In his golden book he left a simple and full dedication: “Thank you for letting me meet so much humanity and so much poetry in the suburbs. It was an unforgettable day.”
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