Dead Giampiero Galeazzi, ill for some time, the journalist was 75 years old

He left on a strange November day, the sky in Rome is gray, but it’s hot as hell. Instead, he loved the sun, he loved the amazement that life holds and – much rarer – he knew how to transmit it. Giampiero Galeazzi (born Gian Piero Galeazzi) died at the age of 75 in his Rome, at the end of a long illness. And in everyone’s ears today his words resound, those that marked the great blue victories, those that made sport epic also through the cathode ray tube. Starting from the Abbagnale’s triumph in Seoul ’88, a commentary remained in doubt until the end due to a strike and to which Galeazzi arrived very unprepared. It matters little, Italy won and that triumphal crescendo of his commentary went down in history. As well as the interviews with Maradona’s Napoli championship, with Bisteccone overwhelmed by champagne, or those for the title of Lazio, a team he has always supported.

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no one like him

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Here, Bisteccone. Everyone called him that, because of the size that has always accompanied him. He was a big boy even when in his early twenties he entered the Rai studios, so much so that it was the journalist Gilberto Evangelisti who gave him this nickname that he has always wore smiling. Ironic and self-deprecating, competent like few others, generous with anyone who asked him for advice, an autograph or an interview. Galeazzi has always given himself, he gave everything of himself, which is why people loved him and will still love him so much. From Domenica Sportiva at 90 ° Minuto, from Domenica In with his friend Mara Venier to the commentary to the sidelines, Galeazzi gave himself to the public, with his strengths and weaknesses, vices and virtues. He changed the way of talking about sport, he praised Rai where he had been for over forty years and which he would never betray, he was – in his words – “Pippo Baudo and Sandro Ciotti put together, an atomic bomb”. Friend of footballers, tennis players and athletes of all kinds, Bisteccone was able to be above all a friend of the Italians. This is why today everyone is giving him a thought, this is why everyone is sincerely sad, this is why the sky in Rome is so gray.

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the reactions

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The news hit the whole of Italy. They have been countless the prompt reactions at the sad news of Galeazzi’s disappearance. Colleagues, friends, fans, everyone wanted to say a word to pay homage to him. From Abbagnale and Panatta, whose exploits were told by the commentator, to the Serie A clubs. A simple gesture for a character loved by everyone.

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the interview

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After one of his last television appearances, Galeazzi allowed himself to “La Gazzetta dello Sport” for one long and heartfelt interview. Between mythical stories and the closest actuality, Bisteccone opens his memory drawers and accompanies us in a career, and a life, unrepeatable.

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the photos

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75 years lived to the full. Galeazzi’s journey begins as a sportsman, passes from a university student to a career as a journalist first and then a television personality. A face and a voice recognized by all. Here are the shots that tell Giampiero

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