Panatta, Barazzutti and Bertolucci unleashed between gags and feelings at the Sport Festival

From our correspondent Simone Battaggia

September 24
– TRENTO

Put together Adriano Panatta, Corrado Barazzutti and Paolo Bertolucci, put Sandro Veronesi alongside them, give them a microphone and ask them to tell about the 1976 Davis Cup. You will get something indescribable, a Zibaldone, a story without rhyme or reason, a chaos of words. But it will always be something hilarious, unforgettable.

The evening at the “Santa Chiara” dedicated to the heroes of blue tennis and to the documentary “A team” that Sky has dedicated to the company in Chile is a candidate for the funniest evening of the Festival. The lineup prepared by Riccardo Crivelli and Cristina Fantoni is lost after a few minutes, the helm goes into the hands of the three. A thousand anecdotes, the jokes that Panatta reserves for Bertolucci and vice versa, the laughter. But there is also room for feelings. “One thing that I discovered with the series and that made me very happy is that Paolo said I’m the brother he never had. He never told me, just as I don’t compliment anyone, but I love him. We were a real team, we were competitive with each other, but in the Davis Cup we were solid. I even cheered for Barazzutti ”.

Atmosphere

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Barazzutti, the only one of the three who left Italy to play in Santiago de Chile – Bertolucci was already in South America, Panatta in Las Vegas -, recounted the atmosphere that enveloped that expedition. “In that period of protest I was in Rome. The tension had risen, I was receiving death threats at night, I did not go around because I was afraid. I went to the airport with an escort of the carabinieri, up to the plane’s ladder. It was an unthinkable situation for a Davis Cup match. We had ideas about the Chilean dictatorship, none of us were in favor, God forbid ”. Sandro Veronesi tells the meaning of the documentary: “That Davis saw one of the greatest teams in history. Four finals in five years, all away from home. The hosts chose referees and surfaces. The first was won, we left with glory. These gentlemen have here behind a button, on / off, and just press it to start the story. My intent and that of Domenico Procacci, producer and director of the series, was compensatory. It was necessary to tell the story of a company that was not celebrated at the time, and not even 10 or even 20 years later. But one thing was needed, because otherwise it would have been a second punishment ”.