W usand it couldn’t be otherwise. An exhibition named after Gian Paolo Ormezzano, Gpocould not have been titled otherwise, at the risk of being less immediate to those who did not know him personally, because “W noi” was the hallmark of his optimism, even before the greeting he used to leave at the end of every conversationemail, text message, not Whatsapp, however, not that, because Gpo, to use a word of his own coining, didn’t “wow”.
He had a real talent for words, whether inventing them or letting them flow. He was a Gaddian at heart perhaps without knowing it, so much so that we seem to recognize him in these lines by Carlo Emilio Gadda: «I want the doubles, all of them, out of mania for possession and greed for riches: and I also want the triplons, and the quadruplons, although the Catholic King has not yet coined them: and all the synonyms, used in their varied meanings and nuances, in current use, or in rare use very rare.”
Even for Gpo there was no such thing as too much or too little in the language, but measures did, respected at the bar. He loved words, he mastered them, tamed them, domesticated them, then let them go out into the world, free but not wild, moving his fingers on the typewriter with the mastery of a snake charmer, when necessary looking away as if following the melody of the hammers(later also on the computer, but Gpo and the PC adapted to coexist out of necessity, looking at each other a bit askance). And in fact, coincidentally, here on display in the room of Villa Claretta Assandri, home of the Museo del Toro, there are two typewriters, strictly mechanical, but not even an obsolete PC.
Even a fan club
It is not obvious nor is it easy to represent the work of a journalist, even a colorful and globetrotting one like Gpo, but he is really there in here: he is there in the opening photo taken in Melfi, next to his most representative piece, the one on the front page of Tuttosport which celebrated Torino’s scudetto in 1976 with the title «Toro, someone up there loves you»; is in the pages of PressOf Tuttosport, Of Christian family with whom he has collaborated for over 60 years, because Gpo is all still alive in his words. There is a colorful forest of accreditations that says about his 28 Olympics and the rest: world record performances, competitive writing. It’s on the pennant of the Melfi fan club, because, yes, Gpo wrote how Coppi ran: as a very fast and resistant champion. Therefore he fits very well in a place like this where lived sport is celebrated, because he lived it too, as a champion too. Unique in its kind and in others: never seen a journalist with the fan club, not even the most vain (and there are some!) would have dared to imagine it for themselves. Gpo, self-deprecating as he was, found it, a tribute from his big Toro heart which he infected with the virus of a reckless passion followers almost everywhere and who then thanked him like this. He told it laughing to the point of tears to hide the fact that he was moved in two silly ways.
A non-random place
He must have done the same thing on Sunday 12 October, the day of the opening of the exhibition, looking down and seeing all the crowd gathered, the people outside, the children giving interviews, as happens to sportsmen with balls and wheels but not with the pen, in general. Only in one thing did Gpo differ from the champions of sport: he won, but he didn’t compete, he was always in the pink jersey, but if he had raced on his bicycle, in the rear, before going on the run to cross the finish line due to a gap, he would have stopped for a moment to pass the water bottle to the black jersey, and then he would have given the sponsor’s gifts to the youngest of the followers. And if he looked down on the day of the inauguration he will have understood that those to whom he gave words, respect and professional advice are still grateful to him.
But the place where the exhibition is exhibited also matters, the Museo del Toro, in the rooms adjacent to what remains of the Grande Torino: shirts, photos, shoe racks, pieces of the stupendous wooden stands from the old Philadelphia, Valentino Mazzola’s travel suitcase and that of the masseur extracted from the Superga wreck with the glass of the bottles still incredibly intact. Gpo, who kept a brick from that old stadium in his car until the end, couldn’t feel more at home.
And it’s really hard to believe that, when darkness falls and the door leading onto the street closes, in there in the secret of those rooms, something doesn’t happen. For example, that Gpo puts the Philadelphia brick back in its place and that at that moment those old boys in grenade jackets step out of the sepia photos, and like the baseball players who emerged from the cornfield in the film The man of dreamsone at a time, Bacigalupo, Ballarin, Maroso… they run out onto the lawn of the villa park to go back to playing, and Gpo bangs on the keys of his mechanical Olivetti, each stopping time in their best hour.
WHERE, WHEN, HOW, WHY
Where: In the Museum of Grande Torino and the Granata Legend. The “W NOI” exhibition is set up with free admission in the Hall of Memory. The museum is located in Villa Claretta Assandri in via GB La Salle 87, in Grugliasco, just outside Turin.
When: The museum’s opening hours are Saturdays from 2pm to 7pm and Sundays from 10am to 7pm, with last entry at 5.30pm.
As: It is possible to book guided tours online. Entrance to the Museum costs 5 euros, free for children under 10 years of age. For information, call +393393370426 from 9am to 12pm and from 3pm to 6pm from Monday to Friday or send an email to: [email protected]
Why: Why yes, Gpo would have said.
