Valentina Romani: «I learned to manage emotional tsunamis»

“Valentina Romani senza filters”: we are faced with a volcano of words and emotions, counterbalanced by a desire to bring order to the flow of thoughts and emotions. «Do you know the Chinese morra? I am at the same time the stone and the paper that surrounds it».

Valentina Romani, queen of TV series

Valentina Romani achieved fame thanks to the role of Roma Naditza in the Rai series Sea outsidebut he already had many characters behind him, from Maria in Skam to Vanessa in The red door. The French miniseries will arrive in Italy soon Bardot where Peggy is – the stunt double of the legendary BB – e at the end of November he will receive the Anec awards at Professional cinema days in Sorrento as an emerging talent for Mare Fuori and for Il Sol dell’Avvenire by Nanni Moretti, where she had the role of his daughter.

Both the first season of Sea outside is The red door they were directed by Carmine Elia, who wanted her on the set of We are legendbroadcast from 15 November on Rai2 and RaiPlay and, from the following day, on Prime Video: «A courageous series that addresses the theme of adolescence, which is always important to talk about because it is a very delicate transition phase» says Romani. «My character is called Lara, a girl who seeks the truthalongside five boys who discover that they have powers that are not always saving, because they can add further difficulties to an already complicated part of life.”

Valentina only puts filters when her private life is mentionedwhich he defends with gentle firmness: therefore he neither confirms nor denies the rumors that claim it paired with Nicolas Maupas, the “chiattillo” of the series Sea outsidealso present in We are legend.

But about everything else she is as transparent as the teenagers she has been able to continue to play despite being 27 years old, thanks to her small build and her nature: «I have always been a pepper and a curious person, even during my adolescence I was constantly evolution. But I started working at 18, catapulted into the world of adults and responsibilities. My parents taught me to distinguish between the right things and the wrong things, leaving the choice up to me, which meant that for me the biggest transgression was telling a few lies about when I would return home in the evening.”

An Italian family

Who is your family made up of?
There are four of us, my father is a freelancer and my mother is a primary school teacher: I would like to be able to say that I inherited patience from her, but that’s not the case (laughs). But in recent years I have been cultivating the rationality that characterizes her: she taught me to be careful about what you say and how you behave towards others. I think I inherited his character from dad: we are impulsive, “in our gut”. It’s also very funny, when in high school I invited my friends to study at my house they were happy to know that my father was there because he held court. My brother, who is three years older than me, became a personal trainer following his two degrees, and opened a gym where I also train.

When did you realize you wanted to be an actress?
At five years old! We have a family house by the sea where we get together every summer and, when my cousins ​​and I were little, I enjoyed improvising shows in the garden, making up stories and assigning roles. One of the reasons why I chose to do this job is to be able to tell stories, and I have never stopped writing, it helps to put order in my thoughts. I also write poems, mostly addressed to my grandparents who are no longer with us: I am romantic and nostalgic, I create music made of words without pretensions. And rereading my feelings in this music breaks through the deepest chambers of my feelings.

However, he once said that every now and then he feels like “a salami”. What did she mean?
I think I’m a good person: I’m not naive, but I want to have faith in mankind, and sometimes someone has taken advantage of that.

Have you ever had a #MeToo case?
No, but I consider myself lucky, because there are more people who have had this happen than lucky people like me. I believe that the movement served to act as a magnifying glass on an important issue, not only in my environment. On the sets there is a new figure, the intimacy coordinator, who protects us actors both during the most sensitive scenes and against any inappropriate attitudes.

Do you see a change in the roles they offer you?
I’m pleased to note that things are changing: lately I’ve been subjected to strong female roles, courageous protagonists who don’t need to be saved. And I have chosen to join the Una senza centomila Foundation which deals with listening, welcoming and defending women victims of gender violence. I am happy to be able to act as a bridge with the new generations following the visibility that has been given to me in projects that embrace the youth environment.

Valentina Romani and the tsunami by Sea Outside

I don’t think anyone expected the enormous success of Sea outside. How did you handle it?
It was an emotional but beautiful tsunami precisely because it was unexpected, and we all, cast and crew, felt the responsibility of having exposed a young audience to important issues. I think I handled this tsunami well because I made sure my life didn’t change completely. Of course, if it used to take me ten minutes to go and buy milk, now it takes me 25, but I could never escape the public that made me who I am.

It was with Sea outside who said to herself: did I do it?
I don’t think we ever get to say that in my profession. Maybe I’ll say it when I’ve managed to graduate: after linguistic high school I enrolled in Communication Sciences, I’m proceeding slowly but I don’t intend to give up, it doesn’t matter if it takes me ten years or five, and if when I take an exam I feel vulnerable, while on the set I am “covered” by my characters. University is a choice I made both to not detach myself from a study method that is also important in the approach to a screenplay or a character, and to preserve a measure of reality that is essential for me.

What memories do you have of The sun of the future and Moretti?
It was an extraordinary experience, not only for participation in the Cannes Film Festival and for the life that this film had in cinemas, but also artistically, because I have always respected Moretti. I immediately got on well with him, he welcomed me into his “Moretti family” with open arms, and I, with my impulsiveness, threw myself into it, trusting in him and his way of directing a set.

Now he will be part of the cast of the second season of the Netflix series Everything asks for salvation.
Which I can’t say anything about, except that I’m very happy, I loved the first season so much!

He also prefers not to say anything about his private life, but we ask him two questions: what do you expect from a partner?
Respect and sincerity, characteristics I look for in every relationship. Respect is the basis of everything, from there trust and bonds are built, and includes common sense, knowing how to listen, acceptance of what is different. Respect and sincerity contain mutual esteem and encouragement: love and friendship do not allow envy.

What strikes you in men?
Kindness, an increasingly rare gift.

And in itself?
The way I preserve and nourish my roots. And recognizing myself in what I do.

What relationship does he have with his body?
I would say positive, even if in the past I have been targeted for my thinness, which is absolutely constitutional.

Did they think he had an eating disorder?
They thought I had a problem that I had no reason to hide, and here we enter an important area: on social media it seems that it is allowed to pass judgment on others. This isn’t really the case, and being exposed because of the work you do doesn’t mean you’re made of rubber, on the contrary. Social media has broken down many barriers, both positive and negative, and living constantly under observation leads us to be not so much interconnected as a little more alone. Furthermore, the hunger to chase everything that happens around us slows down our inner growth: we see every piece of news at this speed (scrolls with his finger on his cell phone, ed ), we listen to voice messages on WhatsApp at accelerated speed. It’s disturbing! Especially since we don’t use the “saved” time to think, but to open another platform.

Having played so many of them, what advice would you give to a teenager today?
As an “older sister” I would say: never stop, but slow down to reflect and give the right weight to things, to people, to the words you say, to what you tell about yourself and others. Many contemporary discomforts are linked to the difficulty of “reading” our emotions: we try to chase life, when it would be enough to pause every now and then and remain suspended and watch. Sometimes reflecting ten seconds longer – the equivalent of reading an Instagram post twice – allows you to make your own evaluation without conditioning, to choose what you like not because it is accepted by others, but because you really like it. We are contaminated by the stimuli around us and we must be careful not to get confused, to remain intact. This can only be done if we listen to ourselves: our most authentic personality lies in listening to ourselves.

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