«Sorry if I’m a little fuzzy because of the… time. with this joke Andrea Bocelli introduced himself to the journalists in the press room of the Sanremo festival to talk about his participation as a super guest in the final evening of the event, exactly 30 years after his first and so far only participation at the Ariston when he won for the New Proposals and launched his incredible career. And even on this occasion she did not fail to underline how she is linked to her roots, and that Sanremo is also part of them: «My father and my mother came here to the Ariston with many emotions and hopes. My father, who was shy and silent, put himself with his back to the wall at the back of the theater; my mother, who was exuberant, was in the front rows, next to Bruno Latilla, and made herself heard by cheering. Also I remember that when I was young I played in piano bars, the small audience present told me that I had to go to Sanremo: I replied jokingly that I had already gone there on holiday and then I actually found myself there.”
Birth, illness, beginnings
Born in Lajatico on 22 September 1958, Bocelli had to deal with a serious form of congenital glaucoma from the first months of his life. At twelve years old, following an accident during a football match, he completely lost his sight. A very tough test that never transformed into a reason to give up, but into energy to be directed towards music and study. Even before becoming a singer, in fact, he graduated in Law from the University of Pisa and for a period he practiced as a lawyer, without ever abandoning singing, which he had cultivated since childhood.
«It’s a passion written in my chromosomes: mother Edi tells how, when I was still in the cradle, as soon as I heard an operatic piece, I stopped crying... As a child I always sang. At seven years old I already recognized the famous voices of the time, from Beniamino Gigli to Mario Del Monaco to Franco Corelli… I listened to their voices through the record player, learned the great arias and then tried to imitate their interpretations. Friends and family asked me to perform for them. And it was perhaps their insistence that led me to think: “Maybe singing will end up being my job!”».
Destiny takes a decisive turn in the early nineties, when he met Zucchero Fornaciari. Bocelli records an audition of “Miserere” intended for Luciano Pavarotti: his voice is immediately striking. From there a rapid ascent begins. In 1994 it won among the New Proposals at the Sanremo Festival and won over the general public. International success explodes with “Con te partirò”, a song which, in the duet version with Sarah Brightman (“Time to Say Goodbye”), becomes a worldwide phenomenon.
Over the years Bocelli took opera out of traditional theaters, bringing it closer to a vast audience, alternating famous arias with pop songs, collaborating with international stars and singing in symbolic places of world culture. From the Statue of Liberty to the Olympic ceremonies, up to the charity events followed worldwide, his voice has become synonymous with accessible lyricism, capable of exciting heterogeneous audiences.
Yet, beyond the spotlight, man remains tied to the earth.
«The further I go, the more I feel the need to return, away from the noise, to the country where I was born, in the countryside where I grew up. A deep feeling binds me to Valdera. In Lajatico I have part of my family and it is my corner of peace in the hills of my childhood. This country saw me as a child, thin and restless, then a curious and dreamy boy, then an immature and in love artist. It is a place where I still have many affections, many childhood friends, and where I keep my beloved horses.”
The relationship with horses is an integral part of this private dimension. «Since I was a child, the horse has been… my bicycle, and then, as I grew up, my motorcycle… The horse is an instrument of freedom, it is the ideal companion for direct and genuine contact with nature. I have always had an intense relationship and great respect for this animal, I appreciate its intelligence, athleticism, strong-willedness, but also the ability to express affection, the complicity that is established with the jockey. Whenever I can, I love riding along the beaches and countryside of my region.”
Deeply attached to his family, Bocelli does not fail to underline his moral debt towards his parents. «SI am grateful to my parents for raising me in a peaceful family and for teaching me, through example, those values that I myself then tried to pass on to my three children and that, I hope, in some way I can communicate through my music. Among the many life lessons that I was able to receive, that ability to not give up that my parents had, even when, while pregnant, the doctors advised my mother to have an abortion, because her child would be born with serious pathologies. She ignored such ill-advised recommendations and continued with the pregnancywith the support of my father. Without that gesture of courage and faith, I would not have been born.”
When asked about the possibility that his three children could one day rock the stage at the Ariston he said: «If Matteo tells me that he is 28 I’ll tell him go ahead, if Virginia tells me that he’s 14 I’ll tell her that he has to go to school first. Of course I wouldn’t refuse a duet to my son, I’ve duetted with everyone.” Among the many duets he remembered those with Celine Dion. «The first time was at his special in America. Then we sang together at the concert in Central Park in 2011 and there he told me “If God had a voice he would have the voice of Andrea Bocelli”. for years journalism has done nothing but remind me of this.”
also involved in social issues through Andrea Bocelli Foundation («when in 2011 I noticed chelpoverty began to knock on the door of each of us hor thought that alone we can do a lot, but that together we can do much more. The beautiful thing is that the Foundation, which is private, is able to collaborate with the public”), the Tuscan tenor has made music not only a career, but a mission: to bring comfort, beauty and hope. His voice, powerful and caressing at the same time, seems to arise precisely from that mix of fragility and determination that has marked his personal history.
Thus, while he continues to perform in the most prestigious theaters and publish new recording projects, his heart remains anchored to the hills of Valdera. There where it all began. There where the “thin and restless” child learned to listen to the world before even seeing it, transforming darkness into sound and sound into destiny.
