A former clerk in a grocery store, without being a journalist and having only an eighth grade diploma in his pocket (but also a passion that is worth a thousand times more), since 1990 he has carried out 1,005 interviews with famous people and without perceiving a money

Gianfranco Gramola with the famous people he interviewed Photo

Sixty-five years old, Trentino from Mezzolombardo but with a house in Molveno, Gianfranco Gramola is a more unique than rare case. A former clerk in a grocery store, without being a journalist and having only an eighth grade diploma in his pocket (but also a passion that is worth a thousand and a thousand times more), since 1990 he has carried out as many as 1,005 interviews with famous people and without perceiving a money. All these celebrities have one thing in common: they are Roman or in some way linked to the Eternal City, which Gramola loves very much. Try browsing his website: www.intervisteromane.net - Photo

Totti-Blasi, the arrival in court for the face to face (river) Totti-Blasi, the arrival in court for the face to face (river)

Where does this link with the capital come from?
«Year 1978: I was in the military in Bracciano, near Rome. I remember that there was a great commotion in the barracks because they had kidnapped Moro and it was thought that they had thrown his body into the lake. I used the days off to visit an aunt who lived in the city. And it was immediately struck by lightning. I love everything about Rome. The particular light, the mild climate, the dialect. Romanity. I could spend whole days in the markets».

How did your “career” begin?
«By collaborating with a fortnightly historical magazine, Rugantino, where all the main Roman poets have written, starting with Trilussa. I made up poems, stories, folklore news. Then I began with the interviews: the first was with Mario Verdone, the father of Carlo, an illustrious cinema historian».

There aren't many journalists who rattle, ingenuity, send questionnaires by mail or e-mail on working days. They insist, they tampon to get an interview. Or they use the holidays to jump on a train and wait for the character in the street of the heart, wait for him at the gate or ring the doorbell by surprise. This is the Gramola technique, but he has the advantage of waiting for an interview even years, he has no urgency to deliver the piece (and if he breaks, he breaks gently). Today, then, he also has social networks from him, how many have he contacted like this!

For example with Fiorello, how did you do it?
«I knew the creator of an award that was given to Montecitorio that year, it was my wife and I in line at the metal detector. I see a very tall man and I say: 'He looks like Fiorello'. And she: 'But it's Fiorello'. So I introduced myself and he was super nice. We exchanged a chat, he told me that he belongs to the PdC, the party of wild boars. “I too belong to the PdC”, I replied, “the roe deer party!”. The interview? 'I'm not an interesting person,' was his reply. But I'm not giving up.'

The most Roman of all?
«Gigi Magni, he knew every cobblestone. He told me that Anna Magnani, when she was stressed or out of sorts, asked him to be her guide around the city. It was a mine of anecdotes. I went to see him at her house in via del Babuino. He would go down and pay for my coffee at the bar».

The cutest?
«Apart from Enrico Vanzina, with whom I also have a friendship, I remember Nino Manfredi and Gigi Proietti. I found Manfredi's number in the telephone directory, under Saturnino. He lived on the Aventine, he hadn't wanted to move from the hill where he often went for walks with his father. But Proietti also had a nice house, on the Cassia. I also found his number in the directory and on the phone he gave me directions on the buses to take to reach him. He came to open it with slippers, proving that the truly great are humble… Claudia Cardinale was very witty. To reach her, I had come into contact with a niece of hers, via Facebook. She called me one evening at home, from Paris: 'What do you think of Pope Bergoglio?', I asked her shortly after Francis' election. The actress: 'Being a Cardinal, I can only think highly of it'. And she burst out laughing ”.

Anyone denied?
«Vittorio Gassman. The telephone number of his wife, Diletta D'Andrea, I found in the directory. “I don't feel like it, I'm sick,” the actor replied. I knew he suffered from depression and I didn't insist.'

And then there was that time that Alberto Sordi – it was a Sunday – postponed it to the evening because he had to 'anna a magnà er watermelon in Fregene'. Then he asked him, embarrassing him, why on earth he kept calling him 'she'. And he launched into a proclamation of love for his city: «I am Roman not only by birth. I am Roman in the epidermis. Whatever should happen to Rome, I am not moving from my city». In fact he is buried at Verano.

By the way, Gramola: if you love Rome so much, why don't you live there?
«Because to feel it viscerally, you have to be born there. I appreciate her as a tourist, even though she has holes, wild boars, rubbish. But without my mountains I would not be able to live. Here: I'm just a Trentino who loves the most beautiful city in the world».

Source: oggi.it