On 25 September 1971, a young group of speleologists, entering a small hole on a hill in the Marche (Italian region near Abruzzo) discovered the beautiful Frasassi Caves.
In memory of this moment, after 50 years, an event took place, which involved the population of Genga (the place where the caves are) and via streaming, even those who wanted to follow the event.
Among the various activities, there was also the projection of the video by Vittorio Storaro, played by Il Volo, presented on 24 September, free of charge to all local citizens, and which took place in the museum of Genga, where beautiful photos of Il Volo within the caves, and these photos will always be visible in the museum.
Of this moment, unfortunately, there is no main video, but only some shots and short videos that we propose.
It’s a video without audio, but … my God, what a fantastic music that of Mission, of Morricone, of course.
And here is the initial cut that opens the exhibition.
Present, the Mayor, Vittorio Storaro and Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero.
Here are some shots, which will be permanently present in the museum.☺
A short but intense video, which shows the skill of our boys in the harmony of their beautiful voices.
PIERO = It is right that you know, we wanted to thank everyone for the patience and determination of Maurizio Tosoroni (head of the Frasassi Caves Consortium).
And we have reached day 25.
The event is held inside the caves, only very few are allowed, but there is the possibility of streaming.
The event, very beautiful, where all the speleologists who participated in the discovery of the caves 50 years ago were awarded, one by one, then saw a short speech by the mayor, the projection of the short film by Storaro (which, however, was not taken from the streaming) and then there is a short but very nice interview with Il Volo.
We were in connection and therefore we propose the unexpected with Il Volo.
PRESENTER = Of course there are many questions we want to ask you, but first of all I want to ask you what you felt when you staged this video clip, that is, what was the atmosphere, the attitude with which you lived this fact.
GIANLUCA = First of all it is a great pleasure to be here, and we greet everyone with great affection, thanks for the welcome (applause).
It is a magical place, then, to be able to interpret the notes of the great master Morricone, flanked by a great filmmaker, one of the greatest, the master Vittorio Storaro. At our age to be able to say that we have had these experiences that have enriched us artistically, but also personally.
PRESENTER= You have now entered the history of cinema.
GIANLUCA = Of cinema not, maybe one day, who knows.
PRESENTER = Of humanity.
GIANLUCA = But being the soundtrack of this wonderful place, 50 years after its discovery, is a great pride for us, a great privilege. Thanks again.
(and he passes the microphone to Ignazio)
PRESENTER = Then I want you to continue immediately (then seeing that Ignazio has taken the microphone) go, go ….
IGNAZIO = No, if there is a question I speak, otherwise I shut up.
PRESENTER = There are many questions, but I also want to welcome those who represent perhaps more than all of us, the teacher, and is Storaro’s daughter, Francesca where are you?
PRESENTER = Here you are Francesca. Welcome Francesca.
Why is Francesca here? Because she is a great light-designer and has worked on many things, of which I want to show you some photos. (here the video, which is very long has been cut, Francesca shows many photos of beautiful places and churches where she has put new lights, with low or almost no atmospheric impact, but which render the monuments in a beautiful light and with a lot of savings in energy consumption. Francesca will take care of the new lighting of the caves).
New lights, new caves to discover (he turns to Ignazio), perhaps new films to make.
IGNAZIO = I don’t know, this would be better to ask Vittorio Storaro, we sing, so …..
PRESENTER = As you know, there was an experiment here of people who have been in the cave for six months, maybe you could be the first tenors ……
PIERO = I’m not here for six months !!
IGNAZIO = It’s a little cold, maybe, if you bring me a small stove to warm up, I’ll think about it, however we wanted to …… can we say a few words ???
PRESENTER = Please.
IGNAZIO = We take this opportunity to thank Maurizio Tosoroni and the mayor, who made all this possible and also the Marche region……..
PRESENTER = A round of applause to Tosoroni. There it is, it is just smaller than a “giant” (the giants are the large columns of stalagmites that are in the center of the room called the Abyss, some reach up to 82 feet).
IGNAZIO = …… because in any case we are three guys with many very ambitious desires, and when the master Storaro told us this idea, we were immediately amazed and wanted to start working immediately, so without them and ours manager Michele Torpedine, who watches us from the steps, from up there.
Is there anyone???? (Ignazio raises his hand to his mouth to launch this sentence which, I believe, is the sentence that the first speleologist said when he lowered himself into the hole).
PRESENTER = Torpedine is not a nickname, he is fast, but that’s what his name is! He is also a little electric, he looks at us from above, he is there (and Michele is framed laughing and making the gesture to get off the rope), he is there, sooner or later he will come down, we do not know when, but sooner or later he will come down .
IGNAZIO = Thanks, because life is made up of thanks, and it is right to give thanks to those who have allowed us to do all this.
PRESENTER = Sure, thank you, thank you very much, (and he passes the microphone to Piero), a few more words.
PIERO = A little while ago we talked to the ex-boys (he refers to the speleologists who discovered the caves, they were in their early twenties, now they are over 70 years old), those who discovered this incredible place, they are beautiful, I had a lot of fun, they’re super cool, but where are these men? (look for them)
PRESENTER = They are there.
Here they are, a round of applause to the speleologists. (The speleologists, before the intervention of Il Volo, were called one by one and they all received commemorative plaques).
PIERO = You are number one!
They are fantastic, one of them has been living in Sicily for 40 years, we chatted, and they told us about when they went down (in the caves), how long it took …..
GIANLUCA = (to the speleologists) You have made history.
PRESENTER = (repeats) You have made history.
PIERO = Believe me, I am honored and thrilled to have talked to them and to have made us part of this incredible experience and adventure. Thanks!!
PRESENTER = Well, great, you were right to point this out.
You have seen with the light how much can be done and how much more will probably be done, but there is one thing I have to ask you. I want to ask you something, I just put myself out here, (walks away from the boys) and stand here looking at you. I want to ask you: in your opinion, what can be done here with the voice?
Now, right now! (Piero’s face is amazed, Igna and Gian’s a little more worried, a sign that it is not an expected request)
IGNAZIO = You can talk to be heard up there, but there is a microphone, or you can thank …..
PIERO = Let’s do an experiment.
PRESENTER = Come on.
PIERO = Since this is a magical place and there is acoustics, I would remove the microphone, can we remove the microphone?
GIANLUCA = We sing without a microphone.
PRESENTER = Without microphone come on.
PIERO = A little piece.
PRESENTER = Yes, the usual 2 and a quarter hours concert! (the boys are about to start)
Wait, while you sing, he’s coming down, he’s official, he’s ready to go, so think about him while you sing and give him strength and courage. (He refers to the fact that a speleologist is on top of the mountain and in this moment, he is descending into the hole from which they descended 50 years earlier, so he is coming down from the vault of the room called Abyss, for this reason, the boys looked up into the darkness of the cave.)
PIERO = Can you get off in 20 seconds ??
PRESENTER = Surely it will start … go. (the boys perform a splendid piece of Your Love a cappella, wonderful, fantastic voices and intense gazes between them. Applause)
Hurray! Successful experiment. Successful experiment, you should know that someone preceded you in this experiment and was unable to sing. It is true!
PIERO = Was it you?
PRESENTER = No, I can’t sing even if I’m warm. No, no, there was someone here, I don’t think it is an urban legend (i.e. false), a great name of opera who came here, and who suddenly failed to sing, as if the cave had it. …..
GIANLUCA = Performance anxiety?
PIERO = But a little while ago, talking to the speleologists, I don’t remember the name of the man who told me … Giancarlo, he told me about the adrenaline and what it can cause, when they discovered these caves, maybe all of them they don’t know that Giancarlo, in the following days, had a fever of 40° (104° F) and it was due to adrenaline, and it is something that struck me a lot, because we, with adrenaline, live with it.
PRESENTER = Of course, those who live on stage live on adrenaline.
IGNAZIO = Before they said it was adrenaline, now they tell you it’s the corona virus! 😁
PRESENTER = Exactly!
However, it seems that the tenor who failed to sing was Katia Ricciarelli (in reality she is a woman, therefore a soprano.
Katia Ricciarelli is an Italian soprano, who became famous above all because she was engaged to Josè Carreras and then married to Pippo Baudo, a well-known Italian presenter, from whom she later divorced. Katia Ricciarelli, during various television broadcasts, has never appreciated Il Volo, on the contrary she refuses the success of the boys because she does not appreciate that they sing operas since they never went to the conservatory. )
IGNAZIO = Oh well, it can happen, because there is a lot of humidity, and then the voice ….. she is a good tenor anyway (jokes, because she knows well that she is not a tenor, laughter), you know, the voice is very subjective and the humidity does a lot, but it depends!
PRESENTER = But it was great because the largest soundbox in the world contained your voices, and amplified them, in a natural way.
IGNAZIO = We hope and wish that, over time, it will contain many voices from the world. There are so many voices this place deserves to hear.
PRESENTER = This is a great idea, you know.
PIERO = This project, the tribute to Ennio Morricone, was born from our ideas, a little exaggerated at times, so during the lockdown we thought and worked intensely on the melodies of maestro Ennio Morricone, with a lot of respect. Then the idea of collaboration with the great maestro Storaro was born and now we are starting again, with optimism, we are sure that we will succeed, we will start with a world tour, carrying around, singing the melodies of Maestro Morricone, and we started from the belly of the earth, as the master Storaro says, so there is no better start.
GIANLUCA = Above all, it is also the way to bring the beauty of these places, the Frasassi Caves, around the world. It is a way to bring, not only what is our tradition through our voices, Italian music, but also the beauties of our country. This is a UNIQUE place in the world.
IGNAZIO = Thank you very much. (the presenter motions him to continue). I don’t say anything more.
PRESENTER = Maybe you want to greet us with a …..(perhaps with an acute) (An acute is a long prolonged sound emitted with the voice, said for those who do classical opera.)
IGNAZIO = I am a singer, but I don’t always sing, I also speak ….. (laughter) or I try
PRESENTER = Because you tenors are used to expressing yourself like this too …..
IGNAZIO = No, but I wanted to say that with Maurizio Tosoroni, we will try to ensure that our colleagues (other singers) will come here, even with the mayor, to enjoy this magnificent place.
PRESENTER = Well, thank you, really thank you, I don’t know whether to call you “boys” (Ignazio makes an eloquent gesture as if to say: sure, we are) you are boys but also something more, now you belong to the history of humanity.
PIERO = Cavers are also boys.
PRESENTER = They were boys, they are boys, it’s true, by the way, then we will talk about it, it seems that there is a habit in this place, where time passes differently, it has been scientifically proven, then we will talk about it. Thanks!!
As usual, I have no words for what they did and what they said.
Although I always expect a lot from them, I appreciate more and more their way of acting and doing.
The a cappella singing was certainly not prepared, but they were very good.
The presenter was pleasantly impressed and recalled that someone who brags as much and criticizes others as much, had failed to do so, and our boys, they only had words of support for her (Katia Ricciarelli).
Very good as always and even more: our Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca.
After performing at the Senate, the guys woke up one day and decided perhaps we should go to Sanremo!
This to me is one of the most challenging decisions they had to make in their lives. We all take chances in life but, this was a little different. If you go to Sanremo and you win then it was worth it. But, if you lose, it’s not just losing the competition, it’s losing your country, your people! No recognition! This is what was at stake. How do you decide with so much at stake? It’s tough!
The one thing that was difficult for the guys from the very beginning was the fact that they were not recognized in their own country.
Ignazio would say, A “prophet is not recognized in his own land.” Perhaps, but that doesn’t change things. It doesn’t change the feeling that you get when you are asked the big question. “You are loved even in Italy, right?” and as Piero said, “You have to answer no.”
I’m going to take a moment here and vent because there is much more to that answer than “no.”
I have followed the career of these young men from day one and I am so proud of their accomplishments as I know many of you are. I see how they have grown and how much they are loved by their fans, all 5 million of them (and those are just the ones we know about).
Nothing bothers me more than how these men are treated by some of the Italian press, not just now but, from the beginning. It’s not about the Italian people. I know the Italian people love them but, many in the Italian press do everything in their power to mock them and mistreat them. It is disgraceful!
What was it that fifteen-sixteen year old boys could have done to cause the press to be so unkind, so mean and so vicious? If you don’t like a performance, you don’t have to give them a good review but, you have to respect what they do.
In March at Sanremo 2021, one reporter wrote “When they came on, I turned off my TV.” This is what I have to say to that reporter. Shame on you! These three men came to Sanremo with broken hearts, especially Ignazio and, this is how you treat them. They showed such professionalism just by being there and this is all you can say! They showed such love and respect for their country and the Italian people just by showing up. Where is your respect for your country, for your people, for your profession?
Everyone was so sad for these men and all you can think of reporting is that you “turned off your TV.” Perhaps, it’s time you turned off your career because you need to learn something about respect. The ink from your pen can tell a truth or a lie but it can’t talk about the integrity of the person who’s using the pen! But, of course, integrity is something you know nothing about!
Having said that, let me say, over the last few years, so many Italian journalists have changed their opinion of Il Volo. I think this is because they finally stopped and listened to them and they recognize the value of what they do. Not to mention all the good work the guys do in and for Italy! And we know they bring Italy around the world! They are good Ambassadors for Italy and the press is finally recognizing it! So happy you got on board!
That’s all I have to say on the matter!
Let’s move on to the great things that happened!
When I read Un’avventura Straordinaria, the story that I loved the most was the story of Sanremo. The decision by the guys to take on the Sanremo Festival. This story brought out their personalities, their differences and how they are so bound to one another that they could make the decision of a lifetime together even if it meant they could lose what was so important to them, their country and their people!
The Decision
So where do you begin to make the decision. Well, you have to start with the decision itself.
Who’s in and who’s out!
Who’s in? From day one, Gianluca wanted to go. He was so convinced that they would win that he never backed down from it. He had no doubt in his mind that they would win.
Who’s out? Always the pessimist, Ignazio. He said “No, we can’t win. It’s too hard.”
So that leaves Piero! Piero at first was not on board but Gianluca persuaded him. Gianluca said, “No one trusted, no one believed it. It was I who persuaded Piero to persuade Ignazio to go to Sanremo. Because I told them: ‘Guys, if we go, we’ll win it, I’m sure, I’m sure’”.
Piero said, “We said to ourselves: ‘Guys, make it or break it, in the end, we were not anyone here in Italy, at most we would not be anyone even afterwards.’”
Decision made! It’s official the guys go to Sanremo!
Then there’s the second problem, the song!
At Sanremo you must perform an unpublished song. How do you begin to find such a song?
Now this is the part of the story that’s really interesting and sometimes funny! Oddly enough, the one who wanted this the most was the one who did not agree to the song. I so enjoyed listening to this dialogue between the guys. This is where we begin to hear the guys make important decisions together. They’re really good. When they begin, they’re not agreeing but as time goes by…. Well, why don’t I let them tell you how they finally got to Sanremo?
The Song
Gianluca: I did not agree to go with that piece. If I think about it now, I’ll say that the next time I have to reflect better before judging, try to sing a song and then judge because our voices change the songs. We arrange them by cutting them on our voice, and I did not take this fact into consideration. The song when we first listened to it was not very ugly!
Ignazio: It’s not that we’ve heard only that, no. Do you think it is easy to choose a piece for Sanremo? We started to do a search and a selection of unpublished tracks. Our policy was: either we go with something strong, or we do not go, right?
One day this song comes to us through Michele: Grande Amore by Francesco Boccia and Ciro Esposito, two Neapolitan authors. As usual, I am pessimistic. I listen to it and it does not make me crazy. Not even Gianluca was convinced. The only enthusiast was Pie …
Piero interrupts: I loved “Grande Amore”! I did not believe that we would have won, but I was the one who pushed, I and Michele pushed for “Grande Amore” because the audition that we heard was not beautiful, but we imagined it if it was made by Celso Valli and I must say that we had guessed right.
Ignazio interrupts: And I said it too if you let me talk. I was saying, in fact, that “Grande Amore” was not as we hear it today. It was always called “Grande Amore”, but it was totally different. So, we start to think: who can produce the piece? And Michele calls the great Celso Valli. After several weeks of work in the studio, we manage to churn out a song that could leave its mark at the Sanremo Festival.
Gianluca interrupts: That’s why when we left for Sanremo I was very convinced: we had the piece, the right project.
Piero: He wanted to influence us, but we are superstitious ….
Gianluca: Every day at lunch and dinner with Michele and the president of Sony, I said: ‘Guys, we will win Sanremo.’
Piero interrupts: Do you know what a week like this means?
Ignazio: Piero and I were all day touching iron and the low parts. Gianluca was convinced that the little lion (the Sanremo award is represented by a lion) would be ours? And the two of us tried to keep the situation under control.
Gianluca interrupts: What should I tell you? I am an optimist. They took it something like ‘he makes fun of us,’ but I felt it inside. I do not know why.
So many interruptions! Ignazio, before he was interrupted, was about to tell us about the first night they sang.
Ignazio: The 65th edition of the Festival begins on Tuesday, February 10th. We sing the second night, Wednesday the 11th. The strange thing is that normally my legs tremble before the performance, but mine trembled even after the performance! Perhaps too much adrenaline, it never happened before.
Piero interrupts: Or maybe it was because we came back to the Ariston stage after going around the world. It was like coming home, because we experienced the beginning of our career here with Ti Lascio una Canzone.One thing that cannot be described: in Sanremo, in Italy, to sing and receive the applause of the Italian public. It cannot be explained.
The Wardrobe!
Gianluca: Can you imagine for me this was also my birthday: I turned twenty on Ariston’s stage? Of course, I was moved in the end, and it was too much emotion to my sensibility to play bad jokes at times.
And then, we felt the pressure in the air. Even though I was optimistic, the tension was there.
Although we had taken care of the smallest details of the song, we had tried and tried again, and we had taken care of even the smallest details of the clothing. First evening look more rock: total black with leather jacket.
Because when we do our work the image matters, too.
Piero interrupts: Count, of course that counts. But do you remember how we were dressed before? I remember that time at Una Notte per Caruso, in July 2009, it was the second time we saw Torpedine. Michele arrives with another white Range Rover, not that of Jesolo, and as soon as he arrives, we do not even say hello and we go to see the car. Let’s run, let’s open the car. Ignazio immediately goes up to the car. We went crazy for cars, one like that, we did not see every day. The day after we go for a ride in downtown Sorrento, a shopping trip, and we enter into Gucci. Michele spent almost two thousand euros and we with that written number at the counter, we exclaimed: “Mizziga! (Damn!) Two thousand euro!” with wide eyes. And we still have those clothes, at least I personally still have them.
He had bought us a jacket, but above all the need for us to dress all in white and blue. I had the blue jacket and the white shirt, Gianluca had blue trousers and white shirt, Ignazio the blue shoes and everything else white, Michele the blue jacket. And we took a picture in front of the hotel.
Gianluca interrupts: We were just dressed badly to be singers by trade, we were children, we came from families of workers. What could I buy? There was not even the need.
Piero interrupts: And then you remember the restaurant? Afterwards we went to a restaurant near the sea. When we finished eating, the three of us took off our shoes and ran to the beach. Michele ran behind us telling us: ‘Guys, calm down. Guys, slow down.’
At this point Ignazio loses his patience. “YES, but, what does that have to do with it, Pie? We were talking about Sanremo. What has Sorrento got to do with it?
The Performance
Ignazio gets the conversation back on track!
Sanremo 2015, from the 10th to 14th of February, we sang on the second evening, legs shaking, Gianluca’s birthday.
Among the many interviews, the diary that we kept every day for TV Sorrisi e Canzoni … We had fun with the diary!
It was a sort of ‘pill.’ A very few minutes, in which we recorded from the 9th to 14th of February. We talked about some of the emotions we felt. For example, the time that Gianluca almost stumbles on stage or the happiness of seeing the audience get up and applaud the first night we sang “Grande Amore”. The recording, then, went online on the site of the magazine.
What was I saying? Ah, yes, among the many interviews, the diary that we kept every day for TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, meetings and press conferences …
Piero interrupts: And the criticisms we felt in those days? People at home voted for us, appreciated us, and journalists gave us votes that we thought were postponed until September, I also said this at the press conference after the victory. Five that flew (Bad votes given by critics). But we see that the criticisms have done us good.
Ignazio: Can I do a criticism of you?
Piero: Ah, tell me…
Ignazio: You interrupted me. I was about to tell the final. I can continue?
The Win
Ignazio: In short, the final evening arrives, February 14th. I realize from my shirt that in a week we have eaten more than we sang. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’m a boy who does not say cat if I do not have it in the bag, then until Carlo Conti said….
Piero interrupts: And indeed, whoever wins does not know it until the end! Sorry, Igna’. Speak you!!!
Ignazio: Until Carlo Conti said: ‘The winner of the Sanremo Festival 2015 is … Il Volo!’ I said to the boys: ‘No, guys, we do not win, it’s difficult.’ And on the one hand I had Piero with shining eyes and on the other Gianluca with a smug smile as if to say: ‘Do not worry.’
Gianluca: The truth is that I was right from the beginning and no one had ever listened to me, ever. I believed it so much that, if you notice, maybe I’m the one with the least surprised look on my face when Carlo Conti announces the winner. Then, of those moments, one remembers little, there is great confusion, emotion. It was a dream to be able to shout, ‘Thank you, Italy!’ from that stage. I look at Sanremo as a child, when there was Pippo Baudo, and I was there and have won because people were on our side and it was a dream, I repeat even if I have already said.
The emotion was only when my grandfather told me almost in tears: “Who would have told me that in life I saw Modugno win at the Festival and then I saw you win?”
Taking the conversation back, I have to say, to me this was the best conversation we could listen to. They disagree, they find middle ground, and they agree but, most importantly they listen to one another and that’s what makes the bond so great!
In the end Gianluca said: “In short, Sanremo was just a dream that brought us many different emotions. Too bad it was not repeated also in Vienna!”
Many of you know the winner of Sanremo goes toEurovisionto represent Italy. After winning Sanremo and the popularity of “Grande Amore”, the guys were pretty confident they could win Eurovision. And to some degree, Ignazio believed it too!
As Italy is a member of the Big Five, the guys went straight into the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Vienna on May 23rd, 2015. “Grande Amore” came in 3rd with 292 points but, they won the televote with 366 points and the Marcel Bezencon Press Award, as best song according to the collective voting of the accredited press. The extended play “Sanremo Grande Amore” was released in Italy on February 20th, 2015 and it was certified triple platinum by FIMI. At the Latin Billboard Awards, they dominated the social networking sites and now, they win the televote and the best song according to collective voting by the accredited press. The people have spoken!
So, they gambled and, they won. They were happy and they finally felt accepted in their own country. It seems that everything worked out well but there’s a little piece of the puzzle missing.
To really finish this story, we need to pass back Through the Fields of My Mind down the corridor that led us here and enter the day-by-day reality of Sanremo!
