He lived in a station, Salvo Sottile. Â «My grandfather was the station master in Cefalù: he lived there with my grandmother. For almost a year, as a child, I lived with them, because my parents worked. After so many toy trains, I finally had the opportunity to play with real trains, so much so that when I grew up I dreamed of driving them. I watched them for hours, I saw them disappear into the tunnel that was not far from the station. And I remember my grandfather saying to me: beyond that, there is Italy».
His dad was also a journalist.
«He worked for the “Giornale di Sicilia” and because of his job he was practically never there: he dealt with crime news. I never wanted to work for the press precisely because, in fact, my father had taken away from me. But I soon realized that I liked to tell stories, even if through images».
How did it start?
«While I was studying I also worked in a bookshop, they gave me 150,000 lire a month. With that money I bought myself one of the first cameras, used. And I started filming the things that struck me most about my city, Palermo. In a short time I made my rounds: the policeman who told me what was happening, the doctor in the emergency room… and at the age of 16 I started proposing myself to some local TV channels».
Enterprising.
«Actually as a child I was very shy, I was even bullied: at school my classmates made fun of me because I was overweight and didn’t allow me to play with them. I remember an afternoon when I was alone all the time with a ball in my hand: I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to play with me. The road then, fortunately, woke me up».
He started being a journalist at a very young age.
«One of the local TV stations I worked for also sent the images to Mediaset. One day they called me to ask if I could go to Rome for an interview. They were looking for an informant from Sicily: Tg5 was about to be born».
Did he go there in a hurry?
‘Actually at the beginning I replied that I couldn’t leave. To round things up I had also started making wedding films and that week I had three. It was an important income for me. But then I made up my mind and went: in the lift, in what had once been the famous villa of Pippo Baudo which later became a Mediaset building, I caught Mentana and Lamberto Sposini. Mentana said to me: “Are you the little boy who lives in Palermo? You’re too young to do this job.” Sposini, on the other hand, who was the good guy of the couple, was more lenient: “Let’s see, if something happens, let us know”. Here, everything happened that year: the eruption of Etna, the Lima murder, the Capaci massacre, the Via D’Amelio massacre. In a few months something happened in Sicily that had never happened in ten years».
And there she was.
‘But I’d never made live connections. When I called Mentana to tell him about the Capaci massacre, after a policeman had warned me, he said: we have to do a live broadcast, collect all the material you can and I’ll send a correspondent: he takes a plane and he’ll be there in 2 hours. In reality he didn’t send anyone and he told me at the last minute, so as not to make me anxious, to get in front of the camera. Total panic. But we started doing this endless live broadcast. I was 18 years old».
Thus he began to work as correspondent from Sicily for Tg5.
«Rai had twenty people in Palermo and twenty in Catania. I was alone for the whole region, occasionally I also had to cover Calabria».
Have there ever been any unpleasant episodes?
‘I never told it, not even to Mentana, otherwise he would have pulled me out of there. But after four or five years of living in Palermo and following crime news and the mafia, one evening I returned home and noticed that there was something different from usual: a street lamp was out. The time to put the key in the lock and I felt taken from behind by two people who then beat me like locksmiths. I didn’t report it because I was afraid they’d take everything away from me».
Is there a regret?
‘It was too important for me to continue doing what I was doing. I was not the envoy who arrived, did a service and left. I used to live there. I had been under pressure. I also remember people stopping me and saying: why don’t you talk about tourism? I didn’t believe in that kind of mentality. But then Mentana transferred me to Rome. And fortunately».
Did your voice play a role in making you famous?
“It’s a voice you either hate or love, but it’s recognizable, no doubt. It was my natural way of speaking, there was nothing constructed when I started. Not to mention that at the time I was a boy who tried to look older than his age: I compared myself with people who were even 30, 40 years older than me, they didn’t take me seriously. That diffidence, however, I have often experienced over the years».
In what sense?
“When I left Mediaset, I felt that there was a prejudice against me, because having worked for Berlusconi meant for many being his friend.”
Era così?
«I had met him in my first year at Tg5, he gave me his number and told me to call if I needed it. Of course I never did. He was a man full of charm, he always tried to make dressing rooms. He made everyone feel important: from the last kid in Palermo, which was me, to the director. In general, I don’t deny the Mediaset years, they were absolutely formative».
Could he go back?
«With the right project why not?».
The great success came with “Fourth Grade”, right?
“An incredible programme. Before, I was hosting Tg5 but at a certain point Clemente Mimun decided to remove all the men from hosting the 1 pm. So they asked me if I wanted to do this experimental programme, on Rete 4. Before, reporting was only the prerogative of Federica Sciarelli, so I I’m dressed the program on: it was a kind of play with a number of comedy parts. Of course, it was a different way of reporting. It seemed they were going to close the program after three episodes because it wasn’t going very well, but then it began to grow until it reached 17 percent on Rete 4. Even now, on the street, the ladies ask me when I’ll be back to host it».
However, it was also a much discussed style, which lingered on the most heinous crimes.
“That’s why at one point I said enough: I didn’t want to be associated only with crimes, I didn’t want to be “the one who talks about crime news”. So I decided to leave and do something else, taking risks».
According to the Rai schedules, it was awarded.
«In every project I want to bring my way of telling stories, though. Over time I have been a very strict judge of myself, but with the lessons that life has given me, I have learned not to pity myself too much, to make my mistakes and not to blame myself».
He has been in open contrast to Franco Di Mare for years.
«Daria Bignardi had offered me to do “Mi manda Rai3” and I stayed there for five years, until he took over the direction. Of course a network director wants to change, but you don’t keep me a bain-marie conductor until the last day, when you know he can’t find anything else to do. With him I found myself without a job. And to think that together we had made Afghanistan, on excellent terms. Then, who knows why, he decided to declare war on me, as if it were his obsession with him. He also demanded that I not go as a guest to anyone, he called everyone saying not to invite me. The only one not to be intimidated was Guardì».
And the chapter of “Fatti Vostri” arrived.
«A difficult program to conduct, with many registers, which together we have tried to modernize, I think we succeeded. I owe a great deal to Guardì. All in all, in the end, Di Mare did me a favor».
Other people to say thank you to?
‘Mentana. And Sposini, who was a sort of father to me: in the early days, when I was in Rome, I went to sleep at his house. He had taken me under his wing. Mentana was more the principal, he interrogated you. Before sending me to Afghanistan, where I then stayed for two months, he asked me to tell him the borders. For me he remains the best ever: I admired his ability not to get tired and his speed of thought, out of the ordinary. He gave me a chance when no one else would. Over the years we have also discussed, but every time I see him a sort of awe remains in me, even today».
Did you then speak with Sciarelli?
«When I arrived at Rai I was the competitor. In the beginning, therefore, there was great coldness. Then I sent her a plant and she said thank you: we signed this botanical peace. However, I find her very good».
Dreams for the future?
«My dream was to go back to making a program with a different, alternative story about the world around us. The new Rai allows me to do it and I am grateful for it. In the future I’d also like to explore dissemination: there’s a great desire to know and get informed».
Does it feel nice?
«I have always had a conflicting relationship with my body. I don’t like seeing myself again. But I think it’s a good thing, normality is a value».
What are its goals?
«I became a father quite young, then I separated and with Sarah (Varetto, ed) we are on excellent terms. Today for me, what matters is always being there for my children».
2023-08-24 21:44:04
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