For the third time, Il Volo is once again interviewed on VERISSIMO on Canale 5, by the talented Silvia Toffanin.
A long and beautiful interview that I really enjoyed translating for you.☺
Click on photo below to watch the interview.
SILVIA = Welcome.
IGNAZIO = How are you?
SILVIA = Well and I see you really well, I see some wonderful images that are the images of your new video that we are previewing THE ECSTASY OF GOLD, right?
PIERO = Yes, soundtrack by the great maestro Ennio Morricone. We have dedicated the new IL VOLO SINGS MORRICONE project to Ennio Morricone.
SILVIA = It was released all over the world on Friday.
GIAN = It is a collection of the soundtracks of the maestro Ennio Morricone, from Nuovo Cinema Paradiso to Once Upon a Time in the West, to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly with The Ecstasy of Gold that opens this album, with the first sung version, with a text in English written by the son, the maestro Andrea Morricone.
SILVIA = Well, congratulations, how beautiful, a bit of a western video.
IGNAZIO = It was great to shoot it, because it was shot on film, as it used to be.
SILVIA = Like in the old movies.
IGNAZIO = And it was interesting, while we were recording it, the director said “Missing a meter at the end” and we thought: “What does that mean?” Because in film, when you shoot in film, it does not qualify in seconds, but in meters.
SILVIA = Ah, you see, when there was a meter missing, it meant that the film was running out.
IGNAZIO = Of course meters or centimeters mean time, seconds.
SILVIA = So, how are you guys doing? I see you very well.
PIERO = We are very well, we are very happy with this project, we have been stuck at home for almost two years, but our creativity has helped us a lot.
SILVIA = It didn’t stop.
PIERO = I must say that time has been our best friend, because we gave our best, we had more time to try to take care of every aspect of this project.
SILVIA = And also to spend a little time with your families, to live a little that second adolescence that you did not live, because you left home when you were little, right Gianluca.
GIAN = Yes, then we tried not to live this period passively and to stimulate our creativity. We have been with our families more, is that sometimes you also need to have a spirit of adaptation and accept reality when there is no alternative, so it was a very difficult time for everyone. I remember that you of VERISSIMO, you had the brilliant idea of enclosing IMAGINE by John Lennon in a video, with many singers playing and singing from home, and certainly this allowed us to be in close contact with the public and we wanted you thank you for it.
SILVIA = Thanks to you that kindness, you played and sang.
And for this, and for all that you have given to the public, we have prepared this gift for you, look.
(starts a video with images of the various moments of the Il Volo tours)
GIAN’s voice in the video = It all happened so fast, we lived an anomalous life, we grew up fast, we discovered the world, traveling opens the mind.
IGNAZIO’s voice in the video = We try to give messages with our music. There have been difficult moments in our career, it hasn’t been all plain sailing.
PIERO’s voice in the video = Our success is due to the music we sing, the music that is part of the Italian tradition. Our genre is not ancient, but classic, and we try to take it around the world and make it known to everyone.
GIAN’s voice in the video = We have three different voices, three different personalities. Maybe going upstream can sometimes win. We do everything we can to try to reach people’s hearts.
IGNAZIO’s voice in the video = For us artists it is always nice to experience new emotions because they give you stimuli, concert after concert, day after day.
PIERO ‘s voice in the video = Every concert, every time is as if it were the first time. We promise we will never lose our simplicity and never change.
IGNAZIO = It’s nice you know. Missing, missing touring, singing, doing the tour routine, missing …
PIERO = It is as if the pandemic and Covid have stopped time.
SILVIA = Oh yes.
PIERO = Second half of 2019 and first two months of 2020, audiences, hugs, it seems like a lifetime ago.
SILVIA = Why you … let’s go back, because you left for the United States before Covid, to celebrate your 10 years of career and you did a tour in the United States, a beautiful tour, where Placido Domingo also came , Gloria Esteffan, in short, great artists. How did Ignatius experience that embrace of the American crowd?
IGNAZIO = Many ask us: “But you have no fear, fear of the public, you know, the emotion”, it’s all adrenaline, it’s really inexplicable and really, as I said before, we miss it, we love it so much and we can’t wait that it is next year because it finally starts again.
SILVIA = But you were there then at a certain point, it happens that in Italy, Gianluca, arrives Covid and you were in contact with your families, but in the United States everything was pretty quiet.
GIAN = Yes, we interrupted the festivities somehow, because in the United States we were there until the first week of March and we returned on the 13th, we canceled the concerts in Las Vegas and San Francisco and we escaped on the last plane, we were more than 30 people traveling, with our crew, the musicians, and therefore we risked staying there for another 2-3 weeks, because then, when we returned we were in full lockdown for a week now (in Italy).
SILVIA = But what was it like to return home and experience that family dimension, after you have spent your life and adolescence around in concerts. How it was to go home with your mother, with the loved ones, to do nothing.
IGNAZIO = Above all, do nothing.
SILVIA = Even that, do nothing, boredom.
PIERO = It was a kind of “in search of lost time”, this immersion in memories, clearly the birthplace, the family, everyone. It’s nice to relive and remember where we come from, because maybe everyday life sometimes makes us forget this.
And that was the strength perhaps, to feel that inner balance that only your loved ones give you, the people close to you, and from there, we gave life to a new project, and the distance …, because we felt only by telephone with video calls, they could not stay in contact …
IGNAZIO = It was nice …
SILVIA = Was it nice? What did you like?
IGNAZIO = To hear them by phone I say, we are always together ….😁
SILVIA = … the fact that you didn’t see them for a while
PIERO = I can say that the distance has strengthened our friendship.😘
GIAN = We have had a really abnormal lifestyle for 12 years. You know it all started when we were children, so (in Covid time) we tried to be optimistic about it, without feeling sorry for ourselves, because this certainly doesn’t help, and we took all the positive things that unfortunately brought us this tragedy that it touched us all.
It was a period that also helped us to discover ourselves a little.
SILVIA = And your grandfather? How are you?
GIAN = Well I must say that I have a wonderful relationship with him, and he is the only grandfather I have, which is my grandfather Ernesto, whom I greet, naturally. He is very proud of me, one of the indelible memories that I will always carry with me, in 2012, when we were on tour with Barbra Streisand, grandfather came to New York and saw me sing with Barbra Streisand, so he was there.
IGNAZIO = A Broccolin (Italian dialect for Brooklyn)
GIAN = Exactly, and this is therefore important, a message to be sent also to young people who often neglect their loved ones, because when you are young, you think you have all the time available, but time runs inexorably, so if at a youthful age you have this awareness, it allows us to live the moments more intensely, especially with the family, where everything started from there, and it is the people who will never betray you. (applause)😘
SILVIA = And you know this well, Ignazio, that you have a lot of personal satisfaction, but despite your very young age, you have had to face the loss of your beloved father.
IGNAZIO = Absolutely. Look, I also talked to other people who have lost a parent early, or even late, because in the end, you can be any age, it can pass as long as you want, but it is always early, you are never ready to accept a loss. But I must say that the fact that we have traveled a lot, the fact that we were on the other side of the world, and I knew that my father was always somewhere, even today that he is not there, it seems to me that he is always somewhere, therefore, it is as if I have not lost him. Because I think that I have not lost my father, my father is always with me here, I like to think like this and that’s okay.❤😘
SILVIA = He was very proud of you, I guess.
IGNAZIO = Absolutely, very proud. But he was the kind of person who couldn’t express emotions, so he was very proud but he was always …..
GIAN = But with a look he made us understand everything.😘
IGNAZIO = Yes, yes, he yes. Look it was my father, but it was as if he was the father of all three, as their parents are as if they were my parents, because in any case we have been sharing everything for many years.❤
PIERO = When we first met we were 14, so to shoot outside Italy, we had to be accompanied by our parents, we were minors, so for 5-6 years and then even at the age of 18, they continued to travel with us, so we know his father very well, we know what he is talking about because we have lived a lot of time with them.
SILVIA = And how was he next to him (Ignazio) on such a sad occasion, you who are a family, Piero on that occasion, as brothers, how did you feel too?
PIERO = Ignazio proved to be a MAN, extremely strong, because three days after the loss of Vito, we were guests at the Sanremo festival and we all expected him not to come. He arrived with a smile and we were blown away by his way of dealing with this moment, unprecedented to us. You taught us so much Ignatius, and in this I have to thank him, he is a strong man and we love him so much.❤
IGNAZIO = I love you too.❤
PIERO = It’s the truth……I always tell you!
GIAN = Me too, I’m here too. ❤
IGNAZIO = Sure! (he and Gian take hands) ❤ (appaluse)
IGNAZIO = There was not a single moment that I thought not to do it (refers to Sanremo), because in any case all parents do anything for their children, sometimes it is not so, but we were lucky that our parents gave us everything and they give us everything, and so I thought that, for all the sacrifices that he (Vito) and my mother have made to get me to where I am today, I thought he would never let me (not to do Sanremo), and so I did it for him too. ❤😘
SILVIA = The fact is that you three are an Italian pride, you have truly brought bel canto, the classic song that you define as eternal, and I like this definition, in the world. And you have conquered the world, look at this gift for yourself here. (starts a collage of videos taken from all over the world)
SILVIA = Wow !!
PIERO = You are committed. (Applause)
GIAN = They (Channel 5) are also special in this, in the RVMs, in the montages.
SILVIA = We did a whole research.
IGNAZIO = But it’s nice to remember.
SILVIA = Japan, Brazil, Spain, Mexico ……..
GIAN = But this is the strength of bel canto, because in any case we are proud to be the only young people who bring this style of music, because it all started with the great Luciano Pavarotti, the three tenors, Andrea Bocelli, so we try to follow the their steps.
IGNAZIO = Do you want water? 😁
GIAN = Let’s say it’s not easy, humbly. Of course we need time and to maintain, the most difficult thing is to consolidate success, but we do our best. Then we have fun, we also do it because it makes us feel good.
SILVIA = Are you enjoying yourself, Ignazio?
IGNAZIO = A lot, and it shows too.
SILVIA = You speak very well English, practically all languages are spoken by you.
PIERO = Yes, at the age of 14 we moved to the United States, because we signed this contract with the American record company and we didn’t speak English, I had 5 ( as a rating-insufficient), in English at school.
IGNAZIO = We went to school.
GIAN = Do you know where? In the University of Los Angeles. We lived the first years for 4-5 months ….
IGNAZIO = Beautiful, they (Piero and Gian) did their homework and I never … I was really distracted …
PIERO = Because in America, you can’t go as a guest if you don’t speak English.
SILVIA = Ah, see!
PIERO = So for 5 months we learned English quickly, then Spanish, Portuguese ….
GIAN = Ignazio speaks Portuguese very well …😉
IGNAZIO = Very well no, I chew it a little.😁
PIERO = He chews it very well 😁… (He refers to Ignazio’s girlfriend)
SILVIA = You chew it very well, right? Lately then !!😁😁
IGNAZIO = Yes Morricone is an album to which we are very attached.😁 (He tries to change the subject)
PIERO = And there is also a piece in Portuguese.
SILVIA = In Portuguese. But you also got to meet Maestro Morricone, what do you remember?
GIAN = Look, there is an anecdote that I always like to tell, because it all started when we were little, but since we were children we had the honor of having the support …. as you can see (behind them is the photo of Il Volo with Morricone) of the greatest master of the twentieth century.
IGNAZIO = A few pizzas ago, that photo there.😁
GIAN = You for sure. 😉 During the recordings of the disc, we were 15-16 years old, Maestro Morricone was in studio A of the Forum Village and we in studio B. Every now and then he would pass by to say hello and then this idea of performing together in Piazza del Popolo in Rome was born, in a song called E PIÙ TI PENSO, which is a medley of: Once upon a time in America and Malena.
During the rehearsals, there were 100 orchestra members, in a room in the studios in Rome, the three of us arrive, smurfs, clumsy, a little small, we arrive and there was the master who was conducting. During the rehearsals, he had to give me the attack, I don’t start, total panic, the violinist (Gian widen his eyes) at a certain point he stops, everyone stops and I tell the teacher:
“Ah, but you give me the attack?”, So, I speak to the master, giving him the You. (In Italian, out of respect, you must speak in the third person and not in the second). Everyone bleaches (Silvia has her hands in her hair) and do you know how Maestro Morricone answers me ?: “Don’t worry guys, I’ll take care of it, you think about singing” (the phrase is said in the dialect of Rome) (applause)
SILVIA = Ah see, he was the most human of all.
PIERO = Morricone is immense, like his work ….
SILVIA = But you were a little in awe, because he perhaps put a little in awe.
PIERO = He was a man of few words, but he did a lot. He taught us what dedication, sacrifice is, nothing comes by chance. This repertoire requires a lot of discipline, we were lucky enough to contact Morricone’s family who gave us great support, immense confidence in this project ….
IGNAZIO = We thank them so much.
PIERO = …. and to whom we thank very much, especially his son Andrea Morricone who gave us the text of The Ecstasy of Gold and an unpublished piece ….
SILVIA = Wow
PIERO = ….. and then Morricone acted as a glue with others in the cinema, such as the maestro Vittorio Storaro, three Nobel prizes, that is, three Oscars, and we shot a video with Vittorio Storaro in the wonderful Frasassi Caves. So we started this Morricone project and a world opened up for us…..
SILVIA = The caves are beautiful scenery.
PIERO = The Frasassi Caves are incredible.
SILVIA = Congratulations indeed.
Ignazio, what do foreigners like about Il Volo? The song they like best.
PIERO = Varies from country to country in South America ….
IGNAZIO = In South America, IL MONDO, we made a Spanish version …
GIAN = Il Mondo of Jimmy Fontana (the singer who sang it first)
IGNAZIO = …. Il Mondo of Jimmi Fontana, for them (South America) is a novelty.
PIERO = “Gira el mundo gira” (He pronounced it in Spanish).
GIAN = The first version in Spanish was sung by us, they did not know it, especially the young people, while in Italy it is very well known.
SILVIA = So “Il Mondo”, not “O sole mio” …..
GIAN = But also Grande Amore ..
PIERO = Il Mondo and Grande Amore
GIAN = ….. in the Spanish version it was also very popular in Latin countries (Grande Amore)
PIERO = Let’s say that every tour we try to change the lineup …
SILVIA = According to the tastes of the country …
PIERO = In Japan, we only go with voice and orchestra, we don’t go with rhythm.
IGNAZIO = How much I like Japan, also because you are singing, you do the exhibition and you see a Japanese in the third row with his eyes closed, then you see another in the fifth row with his eyes closed, and you think they are bored, they are falling asleep. The performance ends, and they stand up and applaud.
SILVIA = See, they were listening.
GIAN = They are very calm.
PIERO = It’s nice to tell it now, but you imagine, on the first day of the concert, his (Ignazio’s) gaze meant “what’s going on?”
SILVIA = Were you scared? (appaluse)
IGNAZIO = Do you know how we entered the Japanese market?
Because an Olympic skater, he won the gold medal with one of our songs, A STARRY NIGHT, and it was a great success and from there we entered Japan.
SILVIA = Think, but it’s incredible.
PIERO = And now let’s go back to Japan for a 15 concert tour.
SILVIA = And can you speak a little Japanese too?
(Ignazio and Piero start singing a song for children in Japanese, very funny)☺
GIAN = It’s a little song. But all, do you remember it?
SILVIA = What do you mean, translate?
PIERO = If you are happy you know it clap your hands …. (it’s a famous little song also in Italian)
SILVIA = What a fool I am (because she didn’t recognize the little song)
GIAN = You have a wonderful dress.
SILVIA = Thank you!! And love ????
GIAN = It moves (remembering the title L’amore si muove)
IGNAZIO = Morricone …. (He tries to change the subject)
SILVIA = Love, love, then wait, obviously I did some investigations Ignazio.
IGNAZIO = Good
SILVIA = You were engaged Gianluca, the last time, two years ago.
GIAN = At that time yes, two years ago when we met, and then it ended, as happens sometimes.
SILVIA = It’s over. You didn’t have anyone, did you Piero? Or am I wrong? Oh well look there and then let’s talk, do not anticipate.
(Begins a very nice video of detective Silvia Bond 007 where she repeats the answers of the boys during the two previous interviews with Verissimo, on the question: Love. Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca regard laughing their words, over time, on the subject )
IGNAZIO = (He laughs) Ouch Ouch Ouch
SILVIA = Isn’t there to laugh Gianluca looking at your face, or is there to laugh?
IGNAZIO = There is a lot of crying. 😁
GIAN = No, there is to be happy.
SILVIA = Why are you single?
GIAN = Me? I’m not single, no, no, no.
IGNAZIO = He is engaged intermittently, you have to understand. 😁😁
GIAN = But what does it mean, over the years many things happen, over time things change.
SILVIA = Indeed.
GIAN = Yes, I am engaged today, yes yes.
IGNAZIO = He gets engaged on leasing, every two years …😁😁
GIAN = He makes fun of me, but I’m engaged and really in love, I can say it publicly, I’m happy, yes yes.
SILVIA = Since when?
GIAN = From some time.
PIERO = Since yesterday. 😁
GIAN = Also, she is called after my mother, you know?
SILVIA = Eleonora!
GIAN = Then you know.
SILVIA = No, I knew your mom’s name! No, I did not know about this news.
IGNAZIO = (Behind them there is a photo of Gian on horseback)
Look at that stallion, Gianluca (He says it in a double sense: stallion for the horse, but also for Gianluca).😊
SILVIA = Gianluca on the white horse ….. Ignazio, then !!!
IGNAZIO = Yes, Piero ??? (He passes the subject to Piero). ☺
SILVIA = So, first Piero, word of mouth to Piero.
PIERO = I want to say that love is a particular theme, regardless of everything.
SILVIA = It is a universal theme.
GIAN = Sorry, look (behind them is the photo of Piero), how can you resist a smile like that !! ☺
IGNAZIO = This is the photo she took 10 minutes before the wedding in Las Vegas !!! (what a joker) 😁
PIERO = It’s a particular theme, many are lucky enough to find a soul mate, I still don’t, but I know it’s out there somewhere.
GIAN = Well definitely, she is not inside the house.😁
IGNAZIO = There’s Silvia Bond, just in case!
PIERO = She is out there, but love is such a strong feeling that it must be protected.
SILVIA = But have you had a girlfriend recently, have you fallen in love in the last few years or has it never happened to you?
PIERO = It is a strong feeling, it must be protected.
SILVIA = We have to protect him,……….so he doesn’t want to tell, so I talk to you Ignazio.
IGNAZIO = Yes?
SILVIA = You are happy and radiant.
IGNAZIO = I am in a moment of my life where I feel great.
SILVIA = Piero is serious on this topic, he doses the words.
IGNAZIO = Yes, Piero is serious, but sometimes he asks himself too many questions, I always tell him. I think that love is very complicated, but sometimes love has to be lived, it has to be left to live, also because sometimes you don’t know what it can be.
PIERO = Okay, but you have met her, you have found your soul mate ….
IGNAZIO = I found her far away ….
GIAN = Piero on the one hand is right, it’s not that you have to be satisfied, because many confuse company, habit, affection, so …..
PIERO = There is one fundamental thing to say: feeling good and happiness are not the same thing. So, for now I’m fine and I’m happy with this.
GIAN = Look, paradoxically, if you are okay with yourself ……
IGNAZIO = …. however we were talking about my girlfriend …. (applause) I’m kidding!
SILVIA = Exactly sorry, 9000 km. they separate you from her.
IGNAZIO = During the pandemic I met a girl, a little far away, on the other side of the world. It was strange because we spent 8 months exchanging messages, hearing, video calling, then at the first opportunity I went to Brazil to meet her and from there it was nice, because we met slowly, we don’t know each other 100% but I can tell you that we are very much in love, and it’s nice to live things like this.
SILVIA = Wow, she’s beautiful !!
IGNAZIO = Yes, she is beautiful, but she is very beautiful inside, the boys (Piero and Gian) have known her and she is really a beautiful person.
SILVIA = How did the meeting go Piero, were you so serious when you met her?
PIERO = But I’m not serious. She is a beautiful girl, very good, I didn’t understand anything of what she told me, because I don’t speak Portuguese though …..
GIAN = But we trust Ignazio.😉
PIERO = We trust Ignazio.😉
GIAN = Tell me who you go with and I’ll tell you who you are (proverb). To be with Ignazio, you have to be a really good girl.
PIERO = The incredible thing about Ignazio is that maybe, the day before you call him and tell him:
”What are you doing?”
“I’m at home I’m playing with the playstation.”
The day after:
”Where are you?”
“In Brazil!!”
“Okay, are you coming back to go to Silvia’s?”
SILVIA = But would you like to become a dad one day?
Since I’m on the subject now, would you like it someday? You are not yet 30 years old or have you already done so?
IGNAZIO = No, 27 last month.
PIERO = 28
SILVIA = Exactly.
IGNAZIO = Wait, 27 just a month ago.
SILVIA = 27 a month ago, then 28 (Piero) and 26 (Gian), so it’s still too early.
GIAN = We are approaching, more than 30 years, we are no longer 20 years old.
PIERO = It is clear that I see a future with a family, all three of us have very similar values, extremely similar realities, so I see a future, beautiful with children, it is clear. In my opinion that is the reason for living.
IGNAZIO = I’ve always liked the idea of being a young father, here, I met the person now, who knows in the next few years, you never know.
GIAN = Well I have to tell you …..
PIERO = If I were you I would wait for the next episode of Verissimo. (Because Gian at each episode had a different girlfriend).
Three times three different names … (laughter and applause)
GIAN = I can assure you that this time I will not change, in two years it will always be the same name, the same person.
SILVIA = It’s a promise !!
IGNAZIO = We renew the lease. 😁
GIAN = I can’t get close otherwise I would give you my hand (to confirm the promise)
SILVIA = Now we have to say goodbye. You Promise .
GIAN = I promise that in two years it will be the same person.
PIERO = I can’t wait to see this video again in two years, look (laughter and applause)
IGNAZIO = Can I say something? Not that those from before (Gian’s girls) weren’t good girls, because they were, but Eleonora is really a good girl and we are very happy that she is part of this family, because in the end we are part of a big family.
SILVIA = We all love her already.
GIAN = There is also a photo (with her) and you didn’t show it, you showed Ignazio’s photo and you didn’t show mine.
SILVIA = Would you like to show your girlfriend?
IGNAZIO = No,
GIAN = Next time.
IGNAZIO = I had the exclusive !! 😊
SILVIA = He gave me the exclusive (laughs, applause)
You are myths, we remember your latest film which is called IL VOLO SINGS MORRICONE.
PIERO = Album, we are not actors yet !!
Yes, IL VOLO SINGS MORRICONE, we hope we have done a good job, that you like it.
SILVIA = Definitely.
PIERO = We are satisfied and honored to bring this tribute to Maestro Morricone, now we will start on tour, therefore a year full of commitments.
GIAN = And we hope to be the soundtrack of many people with this album. (applause)
SILVIA = Beautiful! Congratulations guys.
Really because you know how to move, you know how to laugh and you know how to make very deep reflections, you three are just beautiful for this, as well as singing divinely.
A hug to Il Volo, we say goodbye, thank you.
Il Volo, congratulations.
When Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca are interviewed by Silvia, I always have the impression that they are extremely comfortable.
We understand that Silvia asks the questions very delicately and gets genuine answers from them. It is clear that Silvia admires them a lot, as artists but also as children of full values to be taken as an example, and her closing words show this very well.
I was moved by the memory of Vito, the admission of cross-affection for all their parents is wonderful. Yes, Ignazio, Vito will always be with you.
They also revealed their side about love, they got “naked” and we got confirmations too.
I laughed a lot translating the part in which Piero and Ignazio teased Gianluca about his emotional relationships.
We have heard news about the new tour and gladly reviewed clips from old tours.
We understood how important this project is in which they believe a lot.
It lasted half an hour, but it could easily last hours and we certainly wouldn’t be bored.
Thanks Verissimo, thanks Silvia.
Daniela
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.