He resisted with tenacity, pride, and an uncommon dignity. Qualities that have always accompanied her, even in her life: the words of Francesco Menegatti, architect and teacher at the Milan Polytechnic, the only and beloved son of Carla Fracci who is said to be devastated by a death that we did not expect. There was a rapid deterioration, and it flew away. Yes, sprint.
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The last moments?
Not words, but looks full of deep love for me, for my father Beppe, for the historical collaborator Luisa Graziadei, for my wife Dina and for her grandchildren, Giovanni and Ariele.
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How did he leave you?
With the belief that she did good, I think she was proud to have made us serious people with solid principles. A recommendation that my mother repeated, and significant of her character, was to remain faithful to the simpler aspects of life. He proudly remembered his childhood spent governing geese in the Cremonese countryside. He never got his head, despite the limelight.
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Last January the two masterclasses with the artists of La Scala for Rai.
Who would ever know he was experiencing pain? She didn’t let anything show through, perhaps helped by the great energy that the young people gave her. As if he felt he had to transmit precious knowledge. Even if he did not share the drift of some values, he believed until the end in youth talent and in our country, for which he felt a sense of belonging. Disappointed, in many ways, but very attached, having experienced important historical passages.
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What mother were you?
I’ll give you an example: before a performance, I was a child, he told me to put my gloves that I had absent-mindedly left on a box behind the scenes in the dressing room. He repeated it to me several times until I obeyed. Shortly after, I saw her enter the scene and transform into the acclaimed diva. So was she, loved by the international public but always ready to live everyday life.
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How did you spend the months of lockdown?
We saw little, as is normal. But she always had two faithful collaborators at home and I felt serene. Although he complained to them, “but when can we come back to invite?”.
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What childhood was your, Francesco?
Simple, and at the same time special. I remember the fantastic summer breaks in our home in Florence where nothing significant happened until the end of August, when very strange characters arrived for the preparation of the winter tour. Out of the ordinary, extraordinary, colorful, vital people. People like that have accompanied us all our life. The chatter under the loggia, the noise of the dishes from the kitchen.
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Famous names too …
Sure, but that’s not all. For my mother the human aspect came before the profession and she had a tendency to approach only kind people. He hated arrogance and emptiness. Today I can draw a red thread that binds them all, actors and artists. Just in these hours I have had proof of it.
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Come?
Yesterday Luciana Novaro also flew away, toile who in ’55 passed the baton at La Scala to Carla Fracci. Dad and I are blown away. We feel almost like a bandwagon, also linked in the drama.
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At one point in the clan also Renato Zero: the famous stadium tour of 2009. Carla Fracci on stage.
S! A good memory is also linked to him. At the end of the show in Florence, sitting at the table in the restaurant, Renato turns to his mother “A Carle ‘, did you see, there were 30,000 tonight”. She widens her eyes as if falling from the clouds, and makes him understand “sorry, do you want me not to notice?”.
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Did he ever blame her for not following her path in dance?
She smiles: No, since a technician from the Rome Opera said to her pointing to me: “And who am I sarcophagus?”. She is a wren, I am tall and mighty.
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The legacy he leaves to his family?
so vast. She gave herself to us, and to others, without ever withdrawing. 15 years will not be enough to understand.
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May 28, 2021 (change May 28, 2021 | 10:02 am)
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