Francesca Fagnani: “The slowness that irritates me”

They have asked her so many times if she is a “beast” that, by now, Francesca Fagnani he had his answer pre-printed, ready to be pulled out again this time. We, however, out of spite, did not ask her if she has this side in common with the guests of Beasts, the program that led her to success on the Nove and that has just landed on Raidue on Friday in the late evening, and she was a bit disappointed: “Everyone asks me, I know I should vary, but I would be insincere if I tried an answer different from the one I’ve always given »explains Fagnani on the phone after making a trip home to take care of his dogs before returning to the office to resume editing the next episodes.

The second, which will air on May 21, will see sitting on the high stools of his studio Bianca Berlinger, which “recognizes in itself a certain attitude to command”, e Sonia Bruganelli, the wife of Paolo Bonolis who, speaking of her daughter Silvia, “had no form of indulgence, she was merciless with herself”.

Meanwhile Francesca, journalist, reporter and even “stalker” when it comes to convincing a guest to intervene in his program, enjoy the adrenaline of hard work, the agitated rhythms that intersect and that, sometimes, crush you : «In this job, the intense life lasts a few months. Then, perhaps, there are many dead times, but when he is concentrated, he is truly concentrated “repeats Fagnani who, while admitting that he prefers to ask questions rather than provide answers, retains in the conversation that very lucid frankness that made us fall in love with her and that she shares with the mate Enrico Mentana, of which he speaks very little if not actually forced (the true “beasts”, however, never deny themselves and this, for those who have had the opportunity to see Fagnani in action, has learned quickly).

Beasts has changed networks, but she has remained the same: she continues to ask sharp questions with great education and elegance.
«Those who agree to come by now know the game and expect that the tone is. I study a lot the character in front of me, I try to discover his life, death and miracles: if you tell a person through his shadows and his defects it will be easier for the listener to develop empathy than a phenomenon like Ronaldo. Every so often someone tries to ask me the questions first, but I always say no because I would not do the interviewee a good service, I would take away his spontaneity ».

He said he studies the character: in what way does he document himself?
“I read all the interviews, everything that has aired or been said about him.”

She often asks her guests a question that I now address to her: what is the biggest bastard you have ever done?
“Tell my sister Elena, who is very different physically from me, that she has been adopted and that, even if she had asked our parents for confirmation, they would not have told her the truth so as not to upset her. Eventually she found out because a classmate’s mom asked my mom for more detailed information. If he hadn’t, it would have lasted years. ‘

You were little girls, after all: what memories do you have of that period?
“I had a normal and happy childhood. If I compare it to that of friends’ children, I see far fewer possibilities, fewer opportunities, and far fewer travels, but I have to say she was happy. My mother called me “angel face”, like Felice Maniero ».

What did she want to become when she grew up?
“The doctor, except I find myself agophobic and hypochondriac. I did the classical high school, I graduated in Literature and I got a PhD in Dante Philology. I then went to America for a year for an exchange with NYU ».

First approach?
“I was 24, didn’t understand English and lived in Williamsburg. After 20 days, I went out and saw the Twin Towers surrounded by smoke. I took the subway, arrived in Union Square and only saw one: it was September 11th. Those days I couldn’t go home because they had closed the dials and I was hosted: I felt I was inside the story, and that’s where I developed the desire to become a journalist ».

She stayed in America for a year: have you ever thought of holding back?
“We Romans always come back: you can’t take away the white pizza with coarse salt and carbonara for too long.”

And, once in Italy, his career began.
«After my doctorate, I abandoned my academic career and started doing internships with Giovanni Minoli and dealing with the mafia, making two documentaries in Palermo: even now, organized crime is my passion. Then luck and life made me land at Year zero, which has become my television university. I made the leap with Michele Santoro ».

Michele Santoro who, in recent weeks, is showing up again on TV.
“His is a voice that is never banal and, in this incredible period like the pandemic, in my opinion it is missing.”

How did you deal with the pandemic?
«I cooked and sautéed as if there was no tomorrow, dedicating myself above all to yeast, homemade pasta, cream puffs and bread. My mother was very good in the kitchen and, even if I didn’t get into it before, I think I inherited this passion from her. Cooking, in addition to being an act of generosity, for me is a real anti-stress. Making bread, for example, is an ancestral thing that gives you an incredible serenity, as if you were going back to the fundamentals of life. When you take it out of the oven, you know you can survive anything. ‘

A poem came out of her, Dante would have appreciated.
«He was the one of the“ you will try as the bread of others tastes of salt, and how hard it is to go down and climb up the stairs of others ”. It was for the salty ».

A moment ago she said that cooking is her anti-stress: what stresses her instead?
«The slowness of others, from all points of view. If, for example, I am in a car with someone who takes a long time to leave when the light turns green, I get very irritated. But even if it takes you half an hour to pass me the fork. “

And when it happens does he sketch it out or point it out?
«It depends on the level of confidence. The more I am in confidence, the less sketchy I am ».

Curious that slowness irritates her since we live in a world that runs very fast.
“Technology speeds us up, but certain human processes remain slow. We live in times that are more superficial than fast ».

Wasn’t the superficiality before?
«I’ll give you the example of information: when I did We are history O Year zero, there was always a deepening of the news that did not expire the following week. Today the news is consumed in the same day: before you looked at it from all points of view, today they come out in the morning and are replied to so much that in the evening they are already old ».

We have little time to read, but a lot to be indignant and arguing about anything, though.
“Social media have made the judgment of others about us become central, as we want to be seen. Whenever I have to work, I leave the phone in the other room because it absorbs me completely. Not to mention those who waste time answering a stranger ».

Do you read the comments of strangers or ignore them?
“I have not had episodes of haters, also because I do not do divisive battles on social media, I have my say when I think it is right to say it. When someone offends, however, I block them. Some people write things to you precisely because they want you to give them a certificate of existence ».

Returning to the hot times of today, you have expressed yourself critically in the past about certain extreme drifts of feminism. Today?
«Feminism was fundamental. We live with rights acquired for the battles of others that we must carry on by adding new ones, such as wage equality: it happened that I played the same role as a man and he, for no apparent reason, earned more than me “.

The parity at the level of the televised host that asked Rula Jebreal to Propaganda Live, on the other hand, is it a fair battle?
“I found Rula’s position excessive, even if the problem is bigger, and I can tell that having worked as an author. When it comes to calling guests, men are chosen based on their profile. Then, at a certain point, someone says: and who do we call women? The woman is often only the pink share of the living room, the one that must be there, and it is something that I can’t stand. You have to invite men and women because they bring specific knowledge over one or another: we must all be chosen for our ideas and not for political odds or colors. It is a discourse that also applies to journalists on the right and left who, beyond the color, must be readers of the facts. There is too much approximation ».

Speaking of approximation: if I search for Francesca Fagnani on Google, many sites write “known for being the girlfriend of Enrico Mentana”.
«If, however, one searches for” Enrico Mentana “it does not say” known for being Francesca Fagnani’s boyfriend “. In general, I keep very far away from gossip: I’ve never done a posed shoot, I don’t frequent worldly places, I don’t get photographed, I don’t publish our shots on Instagram. He is a very famous character, I know, but, in my small way, I have never tried to give visibility to the couple ».

One thing he has always emphasized in interviews, by the way.
“There is nothing in my professional life that can be attributed to Enrico: I have been working since I was 24, I have done my apprenticeship, I have achieved successes thanks to myself and failures have been all my fault. I don’t look for that kind of gossip visibility, I avoid it and it annoys me ».

Just tell me if you talk about work at home.
«If it depended on me, I would talk about it all the time because I never tire of doing it, but to Enrico I do. We tell each other what we do, of course ».

And, perhaps, bread is prepared.
“Both of them, though. At the limit, one makes bread and the other clears up. We are in 2021, after all. We miss it too ».