Ragionier Konty: discovering the roots of carlocontism

This article is published in number 1 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until January 5, 2020

Carlo Conti, moderate, workaholic, monogamous, good son, is the human face of the television screen: the good conductor whose scandals, smudges, background are unknown. It also had Covid, and, in the era of global lament, it didn’t even put it down hard. Never a controversy. The only transgression that is known to him is that curled tan which however makes him immediately distinguishable and redeems his monotony of an eternal good boy.

Carlo Conti, or rather “Carloconti” all attacked, led all the conductive, infinite editions of Miss Italy e Sanremo, passing through the free radios and regional TVs of a vaguely, very vaguely reckless Florentine past (however reckless Carloconti, formerly a bank employee, may be).

Now Carloconti returns on December 26 with a version recovery fund of the classicon Your business, which will be called Your business – Long live the newlyweds), seven specials on Raiuno with this variant: couples who have to get married and will aim for a prize pool of three hundred thousand euros.
“In this somewhat dark period I liked the idea of ​​giving hope, a little future for these new families. And yet I wanted to reduce the highest prize, five hundred thousand did not seem appropriate to me: three hundred thousand is already a good amount, today they can help a lot ».

In this there is all characontism. Moderation, common sense. We see the beginnings in the bank.
“But really I was there very little, three years including one in the military.”

You did the budget analysis.
“Yup. To see which companies the bank had to grant credit lines to ».

But did you understand us or did you pretend?
“I was getting on with school memories a bit. Accounting ».

A school with a fantastic and Fantozzian name, I read: “Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia Duca d’Aosta State Commercial Technical Institute at Mercantile address”.
«Yes, I went back recently, they invited me as a former student. I challenged them to make a sweatshirt with the name of the school as it was used in my day, those things with Oxford, Cambridge … They succeeded. The whole name was there. ‘

You took sixty at graduation. You were a nerd, come on.
“But no, I was focusing on the gab, and I have a lot of memory. Then I was careful in class. Being careful is very important ».

You are very accountant, I read. Also in Sanremo, in the three editions you have conducted. They say that you are very attentive to the lineup at the time.
«Well, I do it mostly to not get distracted, because I get bored very easily».

I do not believe it. In my opinion you are a specifier. You are what it takes for Italy in this historical moment. Conti better than Conte. You have to manage the recovery fund yourself. There is the experience of the bank, you are reassuring.
“No, no, for heaven’s sake. And then I often arrived at the bank devastated in the morning, at the office. In the evening I was a DJ, maybe I was five in the disco ».

During the banking day, DJ Konty in the evening, your stage name. But then there will be a lot of companies that have benefited from loans signed by a young Carlo Conti in hangover and without knowing it they have to thank. You are better than the Mes
“No, luckily there were superiors: I had six executives above me who controlled everything and signed up.”

However there is also another DJ minister, don’t worry. To justice. Dj Fofò.
“No, no, I would never be able.”

Okay, you are modest. However, these 300 thousand euros are better than the citizenship income for couples of the Covid era. But does it also apply to same-sex couples?
“Yes Yes sure. However, they must self-certify, because participations are not provided for civil unions. So you understand that we must have proof that they are couples who really have to unite: it is not that they do it just to come on the show ».

You see! You are a precision!
“No, no. It’s just that you have to follow the rules ”.

Was there a time when you were less precise? You always tell of youthful Florence, even if it is difficult to imagine yourself transgressive.
«Usual group of friends always. Leonardo and Giorgio… ».

Pieraccioni and Panariello.
«And then Claudio and Domenico. All five single and without children, until a few years ago, and we met every Sunday evening, a fixed appointment, always in the usual restaurant, to eat fish ».

My friends.
“Sure, it was just like that.”

Then you have to tell me who is who.
«Claudio is the Melandri, the one who sees the Madonna».

And who is Count Mascetti?
«Domenico: rides in an old 1980s Saab convertible that never starts. Lunghi, on the other hand, has a bar, it’s Necchi. Leonardo is the Perozzi. I, on the other hand, am Professor Sassaroli. The feignedly serious surgeon. “

Uhm. But the My friends they played terrible jokes. I don’t see you going to slap those who take the train.
«Well, in the show we did at the theater with Giorgio and Leonardo, they regularly tried to make me fall off the stage. Or in an interview, in which Giorgio presented one of his books, incredibly he did not remember the title, and Leonardo laughed at him all the time. All time”.

You are very attached to that Florence there, so much so that you have returned to live there, abandoning Rome. But how was the Florence you grew up in? That of the Eighties?
“It was nice, there were the first free radios, private TVs, discos, a great ferment. We had fun ».

Programs like Orange Juice. O Fresh paint.
“The mess, essential!”

You had a great curly head and you sang too. In English. I heard a remarkable single, Through The Night.
«Ah, ah, yes, it was the time when DJs also made records. We had to do it ».

But you speak English well. Excellent pronunciation, vaguely American.
“I think I tried it sixty times before I got the right pronunciation.”

Don’t get down. Did you experiment with American tourists in Florence?
“No, absolutely not!”

Come on, weren’t you a bit of a playboy?
“For nothing”.

Someone told me otherwise.
“I preferred the Italians then, let’s put it this way.”

Like the girlfriend who hit you with her scooter.
“At eighteen, with a Hello, out of school. She came up to me and lost her balance. So I went to high school on a stretcher, in plaster. Perhaps that also contributed to the final score. And to think that we had a pact with my mother: he would not take my scooter, precisely because he considered it dangerous. The pact also provided that at 18 I would be able to get a driving license ».

The famous mom who raised you alone; and that it wasn’t very tender.
“Of course, she had to be a mother and also a father together: he died when I was only eighteen months old. She had to reinvent herself anew, raising a single parent child. He had a fabric shop in Florence: when he got sick, they sold everything to pay for his treatment. And when there was nothing more to do and she came home from the funeral, with a small son in her arms, and she had nothing left: but in the mailbox she found a five hundred lire banknote. That someone had put in to help us. It was never understood who it was, Providence ».

But she managed to witness your success. But she wasn’t the classic Italian mother: she told you you had a big nose. “It was like that. It wasn’t much to compliment. When I turned fourteen, he took me aside, offered me a cigarette. Come on, take one, he told me. Make yourself comfortable – better try it at home rather than out and about. He taught me how to hold a cigarette, how to inhale, and while I was finally relaxing enjoying my first cigarette he said to me: here, always remember that your father died of lung cancer from cigarettes . And that was my first and last cigarette ».

But strict mom won’t have been overjoyed when you left the bank to go on the radio.
‘Not much, but he saw that I didn’t get up at noon. I got up early, went to the radio. I was not a vagabond, here ».

Always an accountant, in short. In the end you worked more as a DJ than as a banker. Then, when you were already famous, you also became a testimonial for Banca Toscana in 2000.
«Yes, together with Irene Grandi».

Banking forever. You did everything. You voiced the Robinsons as well. You also worked with Covid. You are a bestial worker.
«In recent months I have presented the David di Donatello without an audience, and with the winners connected from home, something a bit strange. Then I also did something together with Morandi, he and I alone in front of the basilica in Assisi, for a fundraiser. And another program with no audience and no orchestra, Top 10. Then some episodes of As such from home. In short, all the facets of Covid TV ».

Who are your television masters? Do you also follow the ABC of Italian TV, the one that according to Giovanni Benincasa is composed of the A of Arbore, the B of Baudo and the C of Costanzo?
«I am certainly Baudian. Some critics told me that I baud, as a bad thing. But for me it is a great compliment ».

What does it mean to baud?
«It means that you are not just the presenter but the host, the director, the author. You are in total control of the timing. Then I would also take a bit of Arbore, when I shoulder the comedians. And Mike Bongiorno when I take quizzes. And then again Corrado in the lighter programs: I redid the Running. But I would also like to add Enzo Tortora: his grace, his education; well, I would like it to be said that in the television I make there is also a gram of his talent ».

You sucked the blood of these mythological characters to stay young: next year you turn sixty, but you look like a kid.
“In fact, to tell the truth, I feel like thirty.”

Come on, on the threshold of sixty they have to give you at least one task force. After the lawyer, it’s time for the people’s accountant.
“No Please”.

There is a final question to be addressed, a very thorny one.
“Tell me”.

How did you get the quarantined lamps?
“No, look, in early November there were some beautiful days. I’ve been in the sun. They told me it was also important for vitamin D. Very little is enough for me, you know. It’s a moment ».

Photo: GIANMARCO CHIEREGATO

To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.