Another year’s gone by! Another New Year’s Eve is arriving! I’m going to say what I say every year! This is my least favorite holiday! To me it’s a sad day because we remember all those who we lost over the years, and we think of them in a different way than we do on other days. We think that they left us too soon and over the last two years too quickly!
What made this year different? I’m going to say the same thing I did last year! You wake up every morning and turn on the news and no matter where you live New York, Italy, Germany, Russia, Australia, the news is the same – Wash Your Hands! Wear a Mask! Social Distance!
What do we all do on New Year’s Eve? We make resolutions. They usually last about a week and then it’s back to our old ways. But now we’ve forgotten about resolutions! For two year’s we are wrapped up in a world that refuses to go back to normal. No, I don’t buy the idea that this is the new normal. So, we find ourselves not saying what we are resolved to do but instead “When Will This All End???”
Those we left behind!
Then there’s the part of New Year’s that always brings to mind those who have left us! And that makes me so sad! This year, hundreds of thousands of people felt the loss of one person, Vito Boschetto. Yes, we all remember the announcement that shocked us! We had no idea he was ill and then he was gone.
We watched Ignazio step on the stage at Sanremo and courageously sing “Your Love,” and we all cried. It seems strange that so many people had the same reaction, but it goes back to what I’ve been talking about these last three weeks, “Family.” As we watched our guys go from amazing teenage boys to handsome young men who are phenomenal entertainers, we saw a transformation. Three strangers who stepped on a stage in 2009 are now three very handsome young men but more importantly they are, “Brothers!”
And as to their families, they went from three families to one. When we saw the boys, we saw the parents. Such an unusual situation! This led us to open our hearts to their families and thus we all became one, “Il Volo Family!”
When the news of Vito arrived, we immediately thought of Ignazio and how tragic it was to lose his father at such a young age. But we also learned something about Ignazio, and I think Piero said it best when he said he set an example for all of us with his courage.
When Ignazio stepped on that stage at Sanremo we had no idea how he or the guys would react. There were tears but above all there was a phenomenal performance to honor Vito. Ignazio knew this is where his father wanted him to be.
Mr. Boschetto was a man who worked very hard for his family. He was a mason, a brick layer. He worked at this job right up to the last days of his life. Ignazio would tell you that his mom and dad had worked at many jobs, and they tried to learn any trade, just to earn some extra money for the family.
This is what Ignazio had to say about his parents. “Is it the same if the images that I will never forget are …. the memories of my parents? It’s not that I’m crazy or strange, it’s right that my story would never have existed without my parents …. Of sacrifices they have made many and, big for me and for my sister but, more so for me. I do not spend a day when I do not think about how proud I am of them.”
In July 2004 when the family moved back to Marsala. Caterina’s dream was to open a pizzeria and Vito’s dream was to make Caterina’s dream come true. Every day for one year, when Vito returned from worked, he built the pizzeria. Every free moment Ignazio had, he worked alongside his father so that his mother could realize her dream. A year later the pizzeria was completed, and this led to another dream, Ignazio’s discovery and Ti Lascio una Canzone.
Since Ignazio was underage when he started to tour, he had to have a parent with him. The traveling was shared by his parents. When Vito returned from a tour he would return to his work. He never tried to make his life easy. What he did, he did for his children and would only accept their love in return.
What can I say about Vito? Vito was a simple man! A humble man who taught his children to be kind and humble and to live lives that they could be proud of.
It is not every man that passes through this life that can say he was able to fulfill his son’s dream. A dream that would bring him fame.
Vito we will all miss your presence at the concerts because you are a part of our Il Volo family, but you will be missed by Caterina, Ignazio and Nina every day of their lives but especially at this time of the year when our thoughts go back to the people who left us over the years!
He is gone but the memories never go away especially when they are moments that Ignazio shared with his dad as they traveled around the world together!
Certainly, there were many ups and downs this past year but what the guys did really made up for all the lost concerts! So, let’s move forward to the successes of the past year!
To understand what happened, we need to go back to the guy’s final performance for 2020, their mini-Concert at Piazza Pio XII on Christmas Day. And here the guys sent us their final greeting for the year!
Gianluca: On this special day when we all feel close from afar, we wanted to find a way to wish you all happy holidays.
Ignazio: And we did so in the way that best suits us, through music from this gorgeous square where we feel like we are enveloped in a welcoming embrace.
Piero: We hope this holiday season may bring a smile to your homes and warm your hearts. On this “Oh holy night” we wish to dedicate every single note and every single word to you all.
Then came the announcement that they would pay tribute to Ennio Morricone with a Concert in Piazza Pio XII next June 5th! Unfortunately, because of Covid and the fact that perhaps upwards of one million people would attend, it was decided that the performance would not take place at Piazza Pio XII instead it would be at the ancient Arena of Verona!
And then the journey began from Melpignano to Verona and beyond!
“La Notte della Taranta”, is one of the largest Festivals in Italy and one of the most significant manifestations of popular culture in Europe. The final concert of La Notte della Taranta, has had as many as one hundred and fifty thousand spectators in the past. It takes place in Salento, in the municipality of Melpignano, at the esplanade of the former Augustinian Convent specifically for the rediscovery and the enhancement of traditional Salento music. It is not limited to traditional music. It also allows for rock, jazz and symphonic music. This year’s host was Albano, a native son of Apulia, and his special guests where Il Volo.
Listen to the voices of our guys coming alive backstage! It’s a calling! “Who sells olives.”
Meanwhile Albano awaits their arrival on stage. He tells us about the song. It is from the region of Apulia, the region where he was born. He says, “It reminds me of the autumn song. It is the November song.”
November is the time of the olive harvest, and a man would always pass with a cart of olives to sell to the people. Albano and Ignazio sing a phrase in the Apulian dialect (“Who has olives, I have to buy them.”) Albano said when Modugno sang in the Apulian dialect he was very proud of him. Ignazio said, “So let’s hope, with this next song we will sing, you will be even more proud of your land.”
And then the awards began.
The 78th Filming Italy Movie Awards
In the afternoon the guys attended the award presentations where they were presented as winners of the 78th Film Italy Movie Awards. Upon exiting the building, they were interviewed by an unknown man…
Man: This is not Sanremo, this is the cinema exhibition!
PIero: But it seems a little like Sanremo, we meet, all familiar faces.
Gianluca: We are preparing a very ambitious recording project which is a tribute to maestro Ennio Morricone. We had the opportunity to collaborate with Vittorio Storaro in a music video, so we are here in the company of a great master of cinema, Vittorio Storaro.
Ignazio: He chose our voices for a tribute of the video of “Your Love,” which is shot in the Frasassi Caves, and therefore it is beautiful, this is not the first time we come here. It is always a beautiful atmosphere. Venice is a place that is stupendous.
So, let’s go back to the ancient Arena of Verona and the Seat Music Awards.
Prior to the guy’s performance, the stage was set up with multi color lights and when the guys arrived on stage, I think they were even surprised. The stage was lit as it was for last year’s performance. Very simple, very plain but what was going on in the audience was a totally different story. All phones were lit up. It was magic.
They stepped on stage in their beautiful but informal all black attire. Elegant in its simplicity!
As they came face to face with the audience, I could see the emotion in their faces.
Look at how these people love them and how they love their fans!
The DIVA Award
Then Carlo Conti presented the guys with their DIVA award
Carlo said, “I seriously read the inscription: Arena di Verona Award for Il Volo, for the tribute project to Ennio Morricone, represented with great success right here at the Verona Arena, live on RAI1, and for the over 10 years of career, which led them to be known and appreciated representatives of Italian music in the world.”
This song is slowly becoming a signature song! A song that reminds us of sadness but brings us to a new and exciting time in the lives of our guys! It’s as if Vito left them a final gift, a new and exciting adventure in their lives. It is the song that will lead the way in their new tour around the world. Always before them will be this song and the movie which has already and continues to make its mark in history!
And then on Christmas Eve!
So loved this recap of the year! You do such a wonderful job of expressing all our feelings for our young men. I loved looking back over the year with you! Thanks ever so much for this article! ❤️❤️🙏🎶🎶🎶🇨🇦
Hear! Hear! :))
Thank you for following my stories! Happy New Year!
Sometimes out of sadness comes joy!
💞❤💞
Dear Susan! Thank you for your enlightening and deep stories and articles which you generously penned for us throughout the year. I am your biggest fan, even when you make me cry again bringing back the sad emotions when Vito passed away. I wish you a healthy and prosperous new year filled with many smiles, and I’m also hoping to meet with you at our boys concert. Maybe Taormina? For now sending you virtual hugs 🫂 🤗 ❤
I even cried when I’m wrote this story. Thank you, my biggest fan!
Oh!, Susan! What a wonderful story you have told! It started off a little bit sounding discouraged, as we are all feeling with this dreaded Covid.
But then you went on about losing loved ones and I started crying with the thoughts of so many who have suffered the loss of someone dear to them.
Yes, we the Il Volo Family, have all felt the loss of Vito Boschetto, even though we had never met him. He was so important to Ignazio, so he became important to us, too.
I thank you for such a beautifully written story and commend you on your ability to make this story move us in such a profound way.
May the New Year bring a modicum of happiness to us all.
Love, Dolores
I needed to show that even though we live in a crazy world we will get back to the normal. Thank you for following my stories
There’s nothing left for me to say as it’s all been said in previous comments. And yes, I was reduced to tears after reading your wonderful article. Let me just say a huge Thank You and to wish you a wonderful and positively Happy and Bright New Year. xx 🙂
Thank you, Kate, and the same to you!
All so right and true. A year of good news and bad news. On the same day of Vito’s passing, I had a total hip replacement. My only worry was Ignazio’s commitment at Sanremo – not the hip! Every time I hear “Your Love”, it’s March 3, 2021. The YouTube video is so good – you can even see his tears. My new hip is great and so, of course, is Ignazio.
Happy New Year, Susan, and thank you.
Santa brought me 2 ORCH center row 6 tickets for March 15 Boston. Now that’s a Happy New Year!
You must have been a very good girl! Enjoy the concert!
Good for you, Boston Girl!!! I hope you enjoy sitting up close and personal at your March 15th concert. I’m looking forward to seeing them in Ottawa on March 4th — fingers crossed !
Ooooo I wish Santa had been kind and brought me a ticket for anywhere!
Susan, as always this article is perfect but my tears flowed again when reading about Vito and how strong our dear Ignazio has been but how hard it will always be without him. My love for the guys has grown a thousand fold over the years, and especially last year. I very much want to be able to see them in concert – hopefully next year – that’s my wish, but I just want to thank you now for all of your wonderful articles and to wish you (and all of our Il Volo family) a Happy and Healthy 2022 🎉
Happy and Healthy New Year to you too, Shirley!
Amazing writing skills. you have us reliving each moment, remembering the sorrow and crying and joyfully experiencing as the trio moved forward through the year. Thank you for sharing your talent with those of us who love and follow Il Volo. You, too, add so much to our lives. Thank you.
Thank you, Connie for those kind words!
What a wonderful story you gave us. I could feel all the love of our guys thru your words. Thank you Susan for a heart warming story of love, devotion, courage, and the many stories within your story of IL Volo guys. I love them from afar as many do. I saw them in 2020 in Mesa, AZ and it was breathtaking, and so down to earth Gianluca, Piero, Ignazio are. I dearly love them, old enough to be great grandma, but that just makes it even more precious to know I heard, saw, and loved them even more.
Absolutely love your stories and recaps about “our boys “, it really shows how much you, and the rest of us admire and love them! Thank You for this last year, however difficult, you manage to see a bright side and share your words ( and translations!) with the rest of us ilvolovers. Wish you the best possible start to year 2022 and hopes are high we will return to normal. Looking forward to concerts ( NYC and LA) and to meet new friends!🙏🙏🥰🥰😘😘🇸🇪🇺🇸
Susan, as always, beautiful! Happy New Year
For me, since the first time I heard them sing it, it became Vito’s Song. He would have been so proud of his son, Piero and Gianluca that night at San Remo.
Merci Susan pour ce bel article encore une fois rempli d’émotions ! Je pense que nous les fans associerons toujours Your Love a Vito , a la tristesse d’Ignazio ce soir là et nos larmes ! Vito a du etre tres fier de son fils !On a vu aussi Gianluca les yeux rougis et Piero tres triste ! Je ne crois pas qu’ils reviennent chez moi ca a été annulé 2 fois comme partout mais pas reprogrammé !Bonnes fin d’année Susan <3
Susan, I always read every well written word when you relive moments with our three precious guys. We can never learn enough of Ignazio and Vito’s relationship, and Your Love will always bring tears remembering the brave performance 3 days after losing Vito. SMILE always lifts me up and brings a smile. So much so that I want it played for my children as they tell me goodbye! Wishing a better 2022 for this wonderful large community of Il Volo fans!
Marcia, you and i have had the same thought — that SMILE will be played at our funeral (which I hope is a long time in coming for both of us), although nearly 90 yrs. old it will probably be here for me first.
Such beautiful words in that song.
Now don’t you be going anywhere for a long time lady, or there will be trouble. 😉 I want Terry’s Theme from Limelight (Eternally), Highland Cathedral, and most especially Il Silenzio at my funeral. 🙂
Hugs Roz xxx
Maybe we can take the same flight to the Great Beyond together, Roz! Hugs back at you! Dolores
Hi Marcia and deebee, I also love ilVolo from the time I saw the concert from
Pompeii on PBS. I go every time I can when they are near Orlando.
I also am older enough to be their grandparent. I would love to see
Them in Italy. Maybe one day. Happy New Year to you all
I am old enough too. 🙂
Perhaps we could all have a grand meetup somewhere in Italy. 😉
Hugs Roz 🙂
Thank you for writing this Susan. I must be honest I shed a whole heap of tears when I read it. Much as I love Christmas and the beginning of a new year, it is always a sad time for me. I think of all those friends who have lost family, nor just through Covid, but due to cancer, etc, especially when it has happened so near to Christmas or the new year.
Buon anno, bonne année, frohes neues Jahr, blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Hugs Roz 🙂
Now, who is showing off with their linguistic talents????
Meeeeee. 😉 Day one of trying to learn Italian starts tomorrow. By the way blwyddyn Newydd Dda is Welsh for happy new year. 🙂
All the Chrissy decorations are down, so Walters Towers has returned to something like normal, well as normal as we are ever going to get.
Not a happy bunny when it comes to this new Covid thingie. Last week we were down to considerably less than 200 a day in Barnsley, for the last couple of days it has been 700+, today it is 1100.
The way things are going I wonder if the boys would even consider coming to the UK for the foreseeable future. Oh well, if the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, then I guess I had better save my pennies and go to the mountain!
Hugs Roz
This was great ty again
Very emotional missive Susan, especially for anyone who has lost someone dear to them this year. Thank you.
I pray that we overcome the new covid strains so I can fulfill my only dream of seeing il volo in Chicago March 30, 2022.
Thank you so much for keeping us in touch with these fabulous guys. I love seeing all the pictures Ignazio has posted with his love Ana and their families in Brazil, I am so happy to se him smiling again. The families look wonderful. But can anyone say what has happened to Gianluca and Elenora I haven’t seen or heard anything about her since Dubai are they still togeather??? I wish his Christmas was a happy one . And our handsome and talented Piero looked like he was fine. I can’t help but worry about them. And you do such an incredible job of keeping in touch with everything. I wish you a very healthy and happy New Year may you and your family have peace and prosperity. Maureen
Maureen, where can I see these pictures of Ignazio and families in Brazil? I wasn’t sure his relationship with Ana would last, but apparently it did.
Don’t make it too soon Dolores, I have stacks of knitting/crochet and other needlework stash to get through first! Just added Tenerife lace and button making to my list of goodies. At least most things I can do while listening to music, in some cases watching all the lovely stuff on Facebook and YouTube.
Hugs Roz xxx
I will have to get back to you , I have to go into my rooms and get you a hook up.
Hi Dolores. I sent a reply via WordPress, so hope it reaches you ok. Shame you live on t’other side of ‘the pond’.
Well I have been at this learning Italian malarkey for the last couple of days. Some words I find ever so difficult to get my teeth and tongue around. Good job I have a couple of years in which to learn enough to make myself understood.
A friend of mine says she would like to learn Italian as well, so if we ever get the chance to meet up again at our needle & natter group, perhaps we can both learn together. I might have got over my fits of the giggles at some of my attempts by then!
Hugs Roz xxx
I do hope it works out for Ignazio and Ana, she seems to be such a nice girl. Slightly crazy too from a video I saw of her, so she should be a good match for him. 😉
Re your previous comment, is Walters Towers near Faulty Towers?? It would be fun to have John Cleese as a neighbour!!
Giggles, 😉 😉 😉 Fawlty Towers was based in Torquay which is quite a long way from me. Not that we actually live in a tower, just a one floor (two bedroom) bungalow. It is very nearly at the top of a hill, so we can see for miles.
We live in the Barnsley area, which is in South Yorkshire, roughly just north of the centre of England. It used to be a mining area, but the place has changed beyond all recognition since the 1980’s when Arthur Scargill and Margaret Thatcher managed to demolish the industry between them.
We are about six miles or so from Barnsley town centre at a place called Hoyland Common, though it could also be Hoyland Nether. A case of one foot in one, and the other! There is quite a lot of open countryside round and about, plus several stately homes in the area, though none are actually lived in. Wentworth Woodhouse is officially in Rotherham, but we won’t hold that against them as we can see Wentworth Woodhouse church from our front garden.
Hugs Roz 😉
Susan, I’m almost without words…but not quite! I cried so hard when hearing of dear Vito’s passing and again when seeing Ignazio’s grieving face and those of Gianluca and Piero at Sanremo. Your words always touch my heart… you know how to craft your words perfectly. 2022 will be great! We are learning to appreciate every day and to live life fully just as our beloved guys have demonstrated for us!
Thank you for every story of 2021! God bless! ❤️
Thank you Susan for another great post. I am grateful for all the time and effort you put into giving us insight into Italian culture and helping us get to know the guys even better. I pray that this new year will bring a return to a more normal lifestyle and that Piero, Igna and Gianluca will be able to get back on the stage and complete the tour they have planned.
Simple and beautiful. You have expressed the fans feelings for us.
Dear Susan, What a beautiful words, at the end of 2021. Looking forward to the new concerts of the guys.
To Becky. My favorite grandson and his lovely GF will be at the Chicago concert March 30. I’ll tell him to watch for you.
How about you Thordis(read only)? See you at the Wang?
To all you lovely contributors a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year in whichever order you prefer!
Yes!
No can go. I have to be elsewhere where I cannot not be. Then I’m off to my mum’s. She’s a Jones so you can guess which country she’s in.
Ah now that wouldn’t be the Land of Song, the Eisteddfod, Frank Hennessey, Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones and lots of choirs would it perchance? 😉 Loads of Walters there too, we get around. 😉
Hugs Roz
Thank you Susan for the recap, i also cried reading, so much emotion the past year. Hopefully 2022 will be better for all, although not starting out to good. I have my ticket for the April concert and keeping my fingers and toes crossed I get to see it. Happy & Healthy New Year to all of you.