He was the Turin correspondent for the cult Rai broadcast. Carlo Nesti: “A perfect professional”
Cesare Castellotti, the popular face of Rai, has passed away. He passed away today in Turin. He was 86 years old. He was one of Paolo Valenti’s “boys”, the captain of the 90th minute team. The TV show, “sister” of Tutto il calcio minute by minute, born in 1970. Castellotti from Turin, Marcello Giannini from Florence, Giorgio Bubba from Genoa, Luigi Necco from Naples, Tonino Carino from Ascoli, Gianni Vasino from Milan, Ferruccio Gard from Verona. Even today many kids of that time mention them as if they were the formation of a team.
audience
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Ninetieth was the most popular sports program. At 6.15pm every Sunday it attracted 10 million spectators. If it had such a large audience, as the critic Aldo Grasso underlined, it is precisely because it followed a rigid script. Cesare Castellotti from Turin was always petrified, he played the part of the imperturbable reporter. One year with the moustache, one year without. Tall, massive, baritone voice, he never got upset. He wore flashy checkered jackets, all buttons buttoned, and tied with ties that didn’t always match. He will say: “But I think I have never been excessive. Apart from a few jackets, one in particular, in velvet, with brown and yellow checks, had been a gift from the great tailor Litrico. He told me that I was a showman. He explained to me that I needed something that would stand out”.
bull heart
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His boss Valenti really liked Castellotti, who said: “Cesare is perfect in his connections”. Director Villy De Luca seemed perplexed: “It seems cold to me.” But Valenti had no doubts: “Listen to me, Castellotti is detached and this is his great strength. Then he will never make it clear who he supports. He is not only the voice of Turin, but also a beautiful popular icon”. But who was Castellotti rooting for? A few years ago he went out of his way: “I’m from Pinerolo, I’ve never been a real fan, but my family had a grenade heart.”
The imitation of Teocoli
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Carlo Nesti, another historic Turin Rai journalist, remembers him like this: “Cesare was my boss for almost twenty years. A great and noble professional. He was, in the Turin Rai, first editorial secretary, and then head of the sports unit, made up of Beppe Barletti, Franco Costa, Federico Calcagno and me. He became Gianduia Vettorello in the hilarious imitation of Teo Teocoli in Mai dire gol. He loved golf more, his true passion, than football. And he loved Brazil, his promised land.”
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