Live as Carlo for a day as mayor. Bello, a «Beautiful Sack», like the soundtrack of his film greeted him at the entrance of the Palazzo Senatorio, when the mayor of Rome (the real one) presented him with a tricolor sash. It’s only ten in the morning but Carlo, or rather Mayor Verdone, is already moving while taking notes Ennio Morricone they marked the beginning of a day he would later define as “unforgettable” in the Capitol’s golden book.
Here he is Carlo Verdon And Roberto Gualtieritwenty-five years later Alberto Sordi And Francesco RutelliRome from the balcony of the Capitoline Tower is very beautiful, the heart of antiquity is here, outside there is the baroque capital, the center, but Carlo Verdone clearly said: «In my mandate as mayor for one day, take me to the outskirts of the city, there is a need, there we must go, I want to feel humanity and real life». So, after donning the captain’s armband, he uttered the first sentence: “Now I’m in charge.” And then, at the village assembly of Tragliatella: “If Gualtieri does not do the job he promised, vote for me, I will solve everything for you.” The answer was of course: «Carlooo, you are all us, vote for Carlo, vote for Carlo». Jokes, laughter, irony, but also memories. “I’m very happy to be here, precisely because 25 years ago Alberto had the armband, which we miss so much. At lunch I met him at Cinecittà where he was visiting as mayor and he told me: To Carlo, let’s go. I won’t do this work for three hours, now I have to sleep.”
Therefore, move away from the center, away from the neighborhood within the walls, towards the most extreme edges, after signing, as a mayor is expected to do, the first document of the day. (Popular dental clinic on Tor Bella Monaca, support for small bookstores).
There was harmony between Roberto Gualtieri and Carlo Verdone and the first stop was at the public park, Villa Gordiani, near Via Prenestina. There were crowds of children and entire neighborhoods welcoming them, last July a thick, toxic cloud lingered for days over homes, schools and offices after a devastating explosion at an LPG station just behind the park. The older children quoted lines from Verdone’s films in order, even the oldest, from Un Sacco Bello to Viaggi di Nozze. “But how do you know them? You weren’t born yet.” Davide’s quick response: «My mother is crazy about Carlo, he shows me everything». And Carlo hugged them, laughed, then remembered: «I also played on the playground, in a play area much more disconnected than this one. But at that time there was little joy. Everything that can be done for children and young people is sacred. Sharing must be created and even a simple garden can be useful for gathering.”
Because the enemy is social disintegration and Mayor Verdone will repeat this several times. «Hey Carlo, come on Roma, don’t forget us». Lots of selfies, applause and more, also for Roberto Gualtieri. “The suburbs – says Verdone – are laboratories of ideas, of creativity, of communities that do good. Here it is inequality, not degradation.”
But it will be held at the senior center on Via Cassia, across town, to “La Storta”, the apotheosis of Verdone’s day, on his seventy-fifth birthday. «Carlo, are we making this weird?», a beautiful woman with blue hair, over eighty years old, hugged him enthusiastically upon arrival. Two hundred people sat at the table, lasagna, saltimbocca, spaghetti with cheese and pepper, cream and chocolate cake. «Carlo didn’t cook this time, you have to come back to taste the tagliatelle with mushrooms», shouted the president of the center. «And thank goodness they didn’t cook Carlo – was the comment in the room – otherwise you’d still be here to eat at Christmas». (Actually the sentence is in Roman dialect). In the end Verdone also received two fingers of wine: «I have always been an alcoholic, but today I made a small exception». Affection overflowing and spreading, kisses, pats on the back, almost like a scene from one of his movies, with him a little surprised, but kind, very kind.
Then to the inner suburbs, wild areas where there is no guarantee of water and electricity, even areas that need to be mapped because they have never been registered. The meeting in the hamlet of Tragliatella, beneath an unadorned barn, offers no discounts. Neither to Mayor Gualtieri, nor to Carlo, mayor for a day. We ask for buses, asphalt roads, sewerage. But pride arises in the way things have changed. «Among us there is a girl who is an opera singer and we have the first graduate among our children». Applause, emotion, learning are still achievements in this rural suburb.
After a visit to the Valle theater to see its restoration and a proposal to create an antiquities market through the Veneto, it was back to the Aula Giulio Cesare, where Verdone, when it was evening, returned the tricolor sash to Roberto Gualtieri and received the Capitoline she-wolf as a gift. “It was an incredible emotion. Last night I slept three hours. This embrace of Rome, I hoped it would be like this. And it is what it is. The Rome of the 1980s no longer exists, but the world is moving forward, we need to build the future.”
There are children, Paolo and Giulia, sister Silvia, brother-in-law Christian De Sica. Also on the bench is former Rome Mayor Rutelli. Gualtieri and Verdone greeted each other with a real, strong hug. “Dear Carlo, you dedicate this day to the suburbs, to the communities that need it most. Rome loves you very much. It’s mutually beneficial, isn’t it?” the mayor said, citing Furio, from Bianco, rosso and Verdone, his prototype. Then Carlo signed his golden book. «Thank you for allowing me to meet so much humanity and so much poetry in the suburbs. It was an unforgettable day.”
