AND if Lapo Elkann were on stage at the Ariston? The risk is there, if a Sanremo 2026 arrives Ubaldo Pantani – one of the two co-hosts of the third evening of the festival. Imitator, historical face of Italian comedy, Ubaldo will join Carlo Conti, Laura Pausini and Irina Shayk, ready to revive a demonstration still numbed by political correctness. With him there will be, at least in spiritLapo and a mysterious character.
Sanremo 2026: who is Ubaldo Pantani, imitated characters, Lapo
Pantani he entered the world of entertainment almost by chance. He wanted to be a footballer, but fate brought him to TVin programs that have launched great comedians. From Macau by Gianni Boncompagni ai Gialappa’s cult programsthe heir of Gigi Sabani found success imitating over 40 famous people, and not only that.
From the Masterchef Joe Bastianich to the most recent and hilarious Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio up to an amazing one Massimo Giletti, there is no VIP or Nip whose identity he hasn’t stolen. His undisputed masterpiece, however, is certainly Lapo Elkann. In Fabio Fazio’s program What’s the weather like?has been offering for years what can be defined a real alter ego.
One who he travels with a mind and a language of his ownwhich cheerfully he never grasps the meaning of what they say the others with hilarious and unexpected results.
Ubaldo Pantani as Lapo Elkann. (Getty Images)
Lapo and his brothers
As he explained to Ansa, the character was born twenty years ago, «as a parody of a celebrity». “Then, over the years, it has evolved into a Commedia dell’Arte mask with its clichés, its tics, in fact retaining very few links with the original». It will be right the imitation of Gianni Agnelli’s nephew the one he will bring to the Ariston stage. «I will be Lapo, then most likely there will be a final greeting from Lapo’s interpreter».
He is so Lapo in body and spirit, so much so that he even falls in love with his source of inspiration. In various interviews, he confirmed that he is on excellent terms with the original. Lapo? «We phone each other and talk about Juve. Lapo is very self-deprecating, he is an extraordinary person and I love him very much.” «One day he introduced me to his sister and brother: “He’s the one who takes the piss out of me”».
Private life, family, daughter, where she lives
If his celebrity impersonators are always in the spotlight, the private life of the Tuscan comedian, born in Cecina in 1971 and graduated in Political Science at the University of Pisa, she is decidedly more discreet. The most well-known sentimental bond that’s it with the actress Virginia Raffaele. The report, born discreetly and lasted five years, it ended consistently without fuss nor hypocritical and concerted press releases.
Neither of them has ever talked about their story or revealed the reasons for the end of the relationship. The two have shared the stage several times and, in common, they both have a real talent for camouflage. Raffaele proposed the parody of Belén Rodriguez on TVthe criminologist Roberta Bruzzone and the artist Marina Abramović.
Ubaldo Pantani had a daughter from a previous relationship, with whom the actress had established a strong understanding. In a rare interview with Corriere della Sera, he told a melancholy anecdote. “I had my ex-partner’s daughter close to me for five years and today I’m missing a piece.” The discretion of the co-host of the festival on his private life is proverbial so much so that, currently, There is no news of his relationship status or in which city he resides.
The actor is now on tour with his theater show Inimitable. Inspired by the all-Italian tradition of the Commedia dell’Arte, the one man show proposes to its loyal audience imitations of any charactersof everyday life. Obviously there is no shortage of celebrities which gave him so much success. Nevertheless, it seems that there were some very famous people who wouldn’t have taken it well. «One above all? «Pier Silvio Berlusconi didn’t like itbut mine is a parody.”
