Silvio Berlusconi is almost unrepresentable because he lives in everyone's memories almost as if he were a Greek myth. He is a color image that has entered (and never left) the homes of all Italians, never faded by time, always mystically current. Because that's how it is, like it or not, about Silvio Berlusconi, almost a year after his death on 12 June 2023, we don't stop talking about it. Perhaps this is also why his mother repeated to him: «You have fire in your brain and you invited him to calm down, to be prudent». They mention it left and right, always with that grimace that starts from admiration and ends with shaking their heads. Looking at them now, Silvio Berlusconi's intuitions tell of a man who made genius his life. For better or for worse.
Thus the docuseries The young Berlusconi directed by Simone Manetti, written by Matteo Billi and Piergiorgio Curzi, available on Netflix, returns a coherent portrait of that young man (but not very young, the story begins with an almost forty-year-old Berlusconi) who with the bow tie and an eye always attentive to his hair has transformed Italy forever, certainly up to today. From the first constructions of Milan 2 until 11 May 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi becomes prime minister for “the country he loves” and swears at the Quirinale. In front of him is the President of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
The five anecdotes we remembered while watching the series The Young Berlusconi. Among the narrators: Iva Zanicchi, Marcello Dell'Utri, Fedele Confalonieri, Carlo Freccero, Adriano Galliani, Achille Occhetto, Stefania Craxi, Jack Lang, Gigi Moncalvo, Vittorio Dotti.
Inspections on its construction sites
Among the first to give voice to Silvio Berlusconi's debut portrait is the inseparable Marcello Dell'Utri, a close friend of the Cavaliere, an accomplice from his rise to the field until the last day of his life. As a seal of a symbiotic relationship, Dell'Utri received thirty million euros as an inheritance from Berlusconi. It is he who recounts the first steps of Silvio Berlusconi as a building contractor and remembers his obsessive attention to detail. «Every Friday he carried out his inspections on the construction sites. He had incredible attention to detail, an obsession. He watched from the blade of grass to the roof. I once saw him uproot a sink that was in the wrong position. The first apartment he sold was bought by my mother».
When he played the piano for Iva Zanicchi
As an entrepreneur, Berlusconi soon understood that commercial television was the great area to be conquered and completely reformed. This is how it was born Tele Milano Channel 58. «Thinking big» was one of his characteristics so Silvio Berlusconi decided that he wanted the best for his television. He chooses Mike Bongiorno and takes him away from Rai after “courting him more than he would have courted a woman”. He doesn't spend much time and decides that he also wants to be in the network Iva Zanicchi, for the program it will become Ok the price is right. «A money machine», recalls Zanicchi who at that time was «only» a singer, winner three times at the Sanremo Festival. «A manager calls me and says we would like to propose a little game to her because we have seen that she is self-confident. I say I'm a singer, what can I do? And I refuse. The next day she calls me: Mrs. Zanicchi, I would come and have a coffee with you but I have so many commitments, could you come to me? I immediately say that I'll take the bicycle and arrive. We went into his house and there was a little theater with a grand piano and he sat down at the piano and played Edith Piaf for me, then Aznavour. Here lies the greatness, the ability of a man who convinces anyone to make ice cream at the North Pole and succeeds. Silvio Berlusconi fascinated you.”
The pizzone
«Television is everything that revolves around advertising», explained Silvio Berlusconi. How did his television work? The lawyer Vittorio Dotti, former lawyer of the group, explains it well. «In 1980 the Canale 5 consortium was a galaxy of private local TV stations that he had been able to acquire, he recorded long pieces of programming on a magnetic support, the so-called pizzone, of which he had 20, 30 copies printed for each of the scattered local TV stations for the country with pre-inserted advertising and arrived in the various regional offices. It was recorded four days before and at the appointed time everyone saw the same programme.”
The four switchboard operators of Palazzo dei Cigni
«They are at Palazzo dei Cigni four guys making a hundred phone calls every half hour to understand the audience that exists. You have to make a schedule that captivates the public.” These are the words of Carlo Freccero, director of the program schedule from 1980 to 1983, who recounts one of the first meetings he had with the Cavaliere. «Dallas helped me create a hard core of listeners». Adriano Galliani continues the speech, «you ask me: are you capable of making three national networks? We will create many regional television stations that broadcast the same programs giving the sensation of being a single national television.”
When Berlusconi called Serge Gainsbourg a “bum”.
Throughout his life Silvio Berlusconi has collected, so to speak, illustrious and now unforgettable gaffes. Among these is the meeting with Serge Gainsbourg, told by the journalist Gigi Moncalvo: «“Who is this bum ruining my show?”» asks Silvio Berlusconi, and from the studio they explain to him that he is a great artist. Him: “Bring him a blue double-breasted jacket”. Curtain.
Source: Vanity Fair
I’m Susan Karen, a professional writer and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in Entertainment news, writing stories that keep readers informed on all the latest developments in the industry. With over five years of experience in creating engaging content and copywriting for various media outlets, I have grown to become an invaluable asset to any team.
