«Mara Venier is still here”Rai announced at the opening of the press conference Sunday In 2023broadcast live from today at 2pm on Rai 1. «Who would have thought!», replies the presenter. Yes, because in recent years Aunt Mara has announced her farewell to the program several times. «This year will be 30 real years, because I started the 1993-’94 edition and we will celebrate», she adds.
Domenica In 2023, Mara Venier: «It will be my last year, but no one believes me anymore»
To celebrate its fifteenth edition, three decades after its debut, the new season will have an important innovation. «Once every two months I would like to go to the Italians. The big sideshow of Sunday In it comes from people and I would like to end like this, because this will be the last year» he announces. Immediately afterwards he laughs: “No one believes me anymore, but I say it”.
Therefore Rai 1’s Sunday lounge is transformed into a traveling programme. «For many years, my dream has been to do a traveling edition. Concluding this long career of mine as a presenter by bringing Aunt Mara to the theatres”. Regarding the cities, he explains: «We should have started from Cesena, precisely from Emilia-Romagna to bring our sympathy and our warmth to the people. Then due to a series of inconveniences – especially due to guests who could not come to Cesena – we chose to start from our studio in Rome”.
An experience he has already had in the past. «In the 90s I made a trip to New York for Italians abroad and it was one of the greatest emotions of my career». And now we are thinking of recovering the date in Emilia, to which another is added in Umbria “around Christmas”.
“Domenica In 2023”, Mara Venier. (Rai)
Sunday In 2023the guests of the first episode
As for the guests, the season opens with a large audience. Carlo Verdone arrives to present Life as CarloPooh, Matteo Garrone – «which was awarded in Venice and comes with the two protagonists (Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, ed)» –, Matteo Bocelli and The Kolors. Furthermore «Daniela Di Maggio, «the mother of Giovanbattista Cutolo, the 24 year old boy who was killed in Naples» agreed to come to the studio.
Venier also targets international guests. «We have some proposals, but they cost a lot of money. The problem is only economic”. She unbuttons herself when she mentions the possible presence of Sylvester Stallone and adds: «We will have Brigitte Nielsen. She stays in the family!
The occasion is tempting to reopen the album of memories and tells that, of all the international stars she interviewed, two had a negative impact on her. I am Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madonna. The first kept throwing the earpiece connected to the interpreter to the ground. On the third time, Venier says: «Next time I’ll fuck this one, I’ll get up and leave. He stayed there for 40 minutes and didn’t say anything, but I found him really arrogant.”
The queen of pop, however, did not reveal herself after making her wait for hours in a hotel room. «At 7 in the evening I tell the crew: «Let’s go out and see if he’s coming to do the interview. Four bodyguards arrive and elbow us and throw us into the room. I left. At half past nine I received a phone call from the secretary. He apologized and said we could do the interview at 10pm. I said: Thanks, but I’m already in bed. And I missed Madonna.”
Mara Venier, hostess of “A voice of Padre Pio 2023”. (Getty Images)
The news of the season: «I would like to interview Giorgia Meloni»
In addition to the stops in the theaters, the program slightly changes its structure. It will be «a story of Italy told through witnesses, particular stories, friends», anticipates Angelo Mellone, director of Rai’s Day Time Entertainment. «There are different languages, different narrative modes, different ways of telling, of asking the same question. Sunday In it is an entertainment program with prime time prestige, hosting, length and narrative strength. Thanks to the presenter, Current issues will be treated with the right and appropriate languageto accompany the postprandial moments of those who watch television.”
For its part, Mara Venier says she is happy to return. «Sunday In it’s perhaps the only program I can run. I don’t see myself anywhere else. Every year I always say it’s the last one, but then things go very well. We are growing from a share point of view, despite having very strong competition, and we are moving forward.”
As regards the return of current events, he recalls «the terrible months of the pandemic. I was alone at a table with guests connecting. We faced that period where we were all scared and desperate.” Now he would like to «bring the fact of the week. Reopening Mara’s living room that I had at Life live. A space where you could deal with the news, but also with customs with more light-heartedness.”
There will also be a space dedicated to the fight against violence against women. «I have always dealt with it and will continue to do so. I hope that even more can be done, because these women report, but then they are left alone. We should take a very strong position, but men should also do it.” Finally, she lets it be known that he will not interview politicians, “although I would gladly do a nice interview with Giorgia Meloni”.
Aunt Mara’s future afterwards Sunday In 2023: «For me the future is now»
Whether it will really be the last edition of Mara Venier will only be discovered next year. At the moment, however, the presenter seems very convinced of the decision made. “To me Sunday In he gave everything and I don’t know how to say no, but I think it’s right, at a certain point, to give up. I think she won’t come back »He says.
Also explain the reasons. «She IS very demanding. I work every day for 10 months and I want to dedicate more time to the people I love: my husband, my children, my grandson. Because life, sometimes, suddenly brings you incredible things (he is probably referring to Pier Francesco Forleo, husband of his daughter Elisabetta Ferracini, who passed away last June, ed)”.
And then he reveals a suggestion from Renzo Arbore. «You must leave when you are high, never when you fall. That’s what I want to do. I love Renzo, he was my partner for 12 years and taught me a lot. If I’m here I really owe it to him.” Regarding potential heirs, he does not name names because “I don’t want to offend anyone”.
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