A few days ago was Ignazio’s birthday and my friend Valeria Bosch wrote a beautiful post.

Once again Valeria interpreted our thoughts and managed to analyze some of the attitudes of our dear Ignatius, who certainly did not escape those who love him. 

I translate for you, with great pleasure: Daniela

What makes us feel so much fondness, so much affection, so much continuous interest for a public figure, be it actor, singer, writer or other? Of course, first of all is the emotion that he knows how to communicate to us with his art, the feeling of enchantment and uniqueness that he creates around him, and, of course, also what means a lot is his physical appearance, his way of posing himself, what in short is commonly called “body language”.

But what do we really know about these characters? If we want to know them in depth, we must not rely on the tamed, plasticized official biographies or even the news we read in newspapers and mass media, always affected by interested intentions, positive or negative, but we must rely only on our eyes, on our ability to observe, especially small details, signs that can act as a litmus test to define with confidence the personality of our darling.

So I did for Ignazio, intending to pay him a tribute for his 24th birthday: I closed my eyes and I tried to review, among many images that crowded in my mind, some moments, some gesture that could work as a mirror or introspector for understanding his feelings, his intimate reactions. And I share them here with you, chronologically rearranged, although obviously this is not the sequence with which they resurface to my memory.

1. The embarrassment of the boy – 2009

We are at “TI LASCIO UNA CANZONE”, the guys (future “IL VOLO”), from soloists who were, have recently been composed in a trio that debuted with “ ’O sole mio”. Antonella Clerici, who admires the three teenagers , says to them with great affection: “In short, they already call you ‘the three tenors’ – which of you is Pavarotti?” The three little boys, frightened and awkward in their little clothes, remain silent. Only Ignazio, the most plump, manages to murmur with a voice that barely comes out, almost choked: “We do not know ……” A boy a more grown up would have responded with a joke or a brilliant answer. He takes seriously that strange question, still unaware of the incredible future that fate was preparing them.

2. The childish joy of Sanremo – 2015

It is the evening of 11 February 2015 and the trio Il Volo has performed for the first time on the stage of the festival with “Grande Amore”. As soon as the performance is finished, the audience snaps up and gives to the very young singers a resounding and interminable “standing ovation”. An applause never seen in Sanremo at the first performance, a round of applause that leaves them breathless: Piero is annihilated, cannot even grumble thanks, Gian (who turns 20 that day) breaks out in tears and takes refuge on the shoulders of Carlo Conti, Ignazio tries in every way to cope with the situation, thanks the audience, but, just like a happy child, he cannot help but let slip a smile, which he covers childishly with his hand. It is a gesture of infinite tenderness, which I will never forget.

3. The tears of “Alleria” – 2016

During the concert at the Forum Mediolanum of Assago, 29 January 2016, Ignazio performs as a soloist the wonderful song by Pino Daniele, “Alleria” – a cry that rises from a sad soul, who suffers a lot for love and continues to suffer, despite the passing of time. Ignazio is in symbiosis with Pino, it is as if he had tattooed it on the heart, in the head, on the skin: he interprets the song with such force, such an identification that, at the end of the execution, he cannot hold back the tears. The intensity of the interpretation has overwhelmed him, his emotion is true and profound. Tears are the testimony.

4. The wonder for the beauty of Florence – 2016

A date that will remain a milestone in the history of IL VOLO: 1 July 2016, the joke of the words of Antonella Clerici has become incredibly real. With great humility and without wanting to compare themselves to the Three Tenors in the slightest, but as an act of homage and remembrance, the three boys who became incredibly beautiful and elegant, perform an unforgettable concert in the presence, and partly direct, just from one of the three celebrated tenors of the last century, Placido Domingo. The concert is a sum of excellences: the beauty of music, the skill of the boys, but above all the beauty of Florence. It takes place in Piazza Santa Croce, dominated by one of the most beautiful churches of our Renaissance, an inestimable example of art, culture and Italian genius. The church stands out against the backdrop of the square in the dim light of the evening, a square full of people, the lights are turning on, the show is breathtaking: Ignazio, on the stage with the master Domingo and his companions, cannot restrain himself from saying,  “Look how beautiful Piazza Santa Croce is!” and joins hands, raising his eyes to the sky in a gesture moved and full of amazement. Master Domingo uses the right adjective to answer him: “Divine!”

5. The disarming sincerity in the Red Ronnie study -2018

On 3 May, in a long 4-hour interview, the boys met with Red Ronnie. An evening of positive sign, jokes, joy, interaction with fans of all the continents. The old musician was amazed in the face of fame and the international success of the three boys, and of course, also confidences, revelations, work projects. Ignazio as usual is the fool, jokes, not standing still for a minute, makes Red desperate because it causes a small failure to a precious jukebox that stands in the studio. But to specific questions of Red, responds to questions with an unexpected and disarming sincerity.

The person Ignazio most loves in the world? His sister, who acted as stand-in mother and a reference point in the sad period when his mother was forced to long absences to cure a serious illness.

Relationships of love? To be taken with great seriousness, to be men also means to prove to be able to resist temptations, a principle that he never failed during an engagement lasting more than two years, even if now that bond is over “Because we grow, we change, and there are new demands that life inevitably puts in front of you.”

An Ignazio, in short, who is very mature and very sincere.

The portrait of Ignazio that emerges from the small episodes recalled here is that of a boy with disarming sincerity, not yet counterfeited or “corrupt” from the environment in which he is forced to live for work. Contrary to what is his outward attitude, especially on the stage where he is lively and restless, often comedian and joker, is a serious and concrete boy. He once said, “The first thing for me is to stay down to earth.”  But Ignazio is also very emotional, strong and fragile at the same time. His particular sensitivity leads him to live emotions in a profound way, with an intensity that puts everything in his song, and it is precisely for this reason that he manages to establish a special pathos with the audience. For him, music is everything. When he closes his eyes and sings he seems to leave for distant lands, of which only he possesses the key of access;  music is his second skin, and it is perhaps also for this that he has made contact with Gian and Piero, who are certainly not less, a perfect artistic and professional alliance!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IGNAZIO!………..Valeria Bosch

Credit to owners of all photos and video.