Maurizio Costanzo The Inimitable Keeper Of Our Memories

We didn't think he could die, despite the pungent fragrance of eternity that spread every time a camera focused on him (and there were many times) Even now that he has left us, the image of Maurizio Costanzo (Roman, born in 1938, the biblical Abraham of television) continues to envelop the schedules with nostalgia; and the social networks become clogged with memories, thousands of voices rise as if to connote, for him, the bond of the Fine Arts.

Costanzo was the true polyphonic journalist Think of a role, an innovation, a dream in the world of journalism, art, publishing: Costanzo had done it.

The fulminating career, from 18 years old to Paese sera with the famous letter of good intentions to Indro Montanelli, and in the women's weeklies; the radio as author and conductor passing from Filogamo to Ennio Morricone; cinema in the role of screenwriter together with Sandro Parenzo, creating milestones with Pasolini, Avati, Scola (the film A special day above all), Paolo Villaggio for whom he invented the character of Fracchia; music with Mina (If the phone was hers); the innumerable plays in the theatre; the first technical discovery of digital terrestrial, when no one believed in Mediaset And then I remember his seminars at the university, Science of Communication at La Sapienza, with an unforgettable lesson on the modalities of the interview understood as a "hinge of the soul" by exploiting Hall's proxemics; «You have to enter the intimate sphere of the interviewee, I do it slowly, slowly, sitting down from behind», he said.

And with him dissolved the politicians - Andreotti in the first place - and movie stars, intellectuals and ordinary people FROM THE SET TO THE ATHENAEUM And then the dozens of books come to mind, the millions of articles penned by Maurizio until his last breath, first in the columns of Messaggero and then of Libero.

Costanzo was for many of us journalists looking for a foothold, a multitasking model before the very concept of multitasking existed He always claimed to «have two jackets: one for news and the other for entertainment», but in reality he was provided with an infinite media and authorial wardrobe.

Above all, in Italy, Maurizio was the man who had invented television And I'm not just talking about the talk show that he sublimed on Rai to unified networks and then on Mediaset with Bontà loro, Acquario or Grand'Italia.

And I don't even think of those formidable afternoons, from Good Sunday downwards when, always as a pioneer, he lightly mixed entertainment with information No.

I am referring also and above all to his activity as a communicator and consultant: for francesco rutelli mayor of Rome, for Pivetti president of the Chamber, for Telecom which inaugurated La7 He was even a consultant to the first whose revolutionary significance he had intuited.

Costanzo - let's face it - for forty years of Italian history was an authentic center of power At the height of its splendour, so as not to miss anything, on 14 May 1993 it suffered the Mafia attack in via Fauro in Rome, after the TV marathon with Santoro on Libero Grassi: a fiat uno stuffed with ninety kilograms of TNT exploded shortly distance from the Thema where Maurizio was staying with his new wife, Maria De Filippi.

Until the mid-2000s, he remained more unapproachable than a thousand prime ministers; I managed to intercept his telephone number only while, about fifteen years ago, he was chatting with Tarak Ben Ammar, another television tycoon with whispered omnipotence, similar to that of Costanzo Omnipotence, his, which reached sidereal zeniths but also slipped into unexpected nadirs, such as the bankruptcy experience with the newspaper L'Occhio (after directing Domenica del Corriere) and, the judicially striking one, with Licio Gelli's P2.

Even then, as always happened to him in his life, Maurizio caught fire, burned and rose from his ashes He understood each new experience as a sort of penitential bath which, at the same time, flexed in an almost childish curiosity.

His most sublime and terrible weapon of mass distraction was, undoubtedly the Maurizio Costanzo Show The longest-running program on the small screen which this year had turned forty.

Forty, God And we return to the Parioli Theater, behind the scenes of which Costanzo instructed his guests in advance by putting them all - from the American superstar, to the snooty minister, to the disinherited worker - on the same level.

The Costanzo Show It is part of my youth; I enjoyed it as a child fan, as a spectator, even as a guest.

I drank from it in its function as a forge of pop myths TALENT SCOUT That backstage was the democracy of consensus, it was like Totò's level: all the same in front of the camera and in the red living room.

It would be trivial to list the talents that the scouting of the Costanzo Show discovered and launched by Vittorio Sgarbi and Platinette, from Valerio Mastandrea to poor Nik Novecento, from Giobbe Covatta to Parietti to the revived Gigi Sabani, to politicians like Gianfranco Fini who was cleared here in an unforgettable One against all There was a moment in which, fascinated by the kaleidoscope of MTV and the new TVs, I considered the umpteenth edition of Maurizio's talk, wanted by the director of Rete 4 Seba Lombardi, a relic from the past, and I made the mistake of writing it.

Maurizio, who had his temper when it started, repaid me with a bead of high ratings Maurizio leaves behind a wife, Maria his natural heir, three exes, two talented children and a dog.

I've always thought him immortal And perhaps, like all giants, he really remained immortal to politicians like Gianfranco Fini who was cleared here in an unforgettable One against all.

There was a moment in which, fascinated by the kaleidoscope of MTV and the new TVs, I considered the umpteenth edition of Maurizio's talk, wanted by the director of Rete 4 Seba Lombardi, a relic from the past, and I made the mistake of writing it Maurizio, who had his temper when it started, repaid me with a bead of high ratings.

Maurizio leaves behind a wife, Maria his natural heir, three exes, two talented children and a dog I've always thought him immortal.

And perhaps, like all giants, he really remained immortal to politicians like Gianfranco Fini who was cleared here in an unforgettable One against all There was a moment in which, fascinated by the kaleidoscope of MTV and the new TVs, I considered the umpteenth edition of Maurizio's talk, wanted by the director of Rete 4 Seba Lombardi, a relic from the past, and I made the mistake of writing it.

Maurizio, who had his temper when it started, repaid me with a bead of high ratings Maurizio leaves behind a wife, Maria his natural heir, three exes, two talented children and a dog.

I've always thought him immortal And perhaps, like all giants, he really remained immortal a relic of the past, and I made the mistake of writing it.

Maurizio, who had his temper when it started, repaid me with a bead of high ratings Maurizio leaves behind a wife, Maria his natural heir, three exes, two talented children and a dog.

I've always thought him immortal And perhaps, like all giants, he really remained immortal a relic of the past, and I made the mistake of writing it.

Maurizio, who had his temper when it started, repaid me with a bead of high ratings Maurizio leaves behind a wife, Maria his natural heir, three exes, two talented children and a dog.

I've always thought him immortal And perhaps, like all giants, he really remained immortal.