TURIN – “Hello guys (with a precise imitation of Chiara Ferragni also in the tone, ed.), I want to reassure you: they have cleared the room, there are no explosives. I was expecting Chiara’s girls and instead… nothing compared to what happened to Minister Roccella. Not even Candida Morvillo who throws buckets of pink dust… what a disappointment, how democratic these Ferragnez are”.The arrival on stage of Selvaggia Lucarelli, at the Turin Book Fair to present the investigative book ‘Pandoro’s Vase’ is a show.
The room is packed with very young people. Girls and boys fascinated by the irreverent charisma of the journalist, commentator, blogger and – don’t be offended – also influencer, judging by the ecstasy of the audience at every jab towards Italy’s former golden couple. The show it started before he even stepped on stage. The staff launched packages of pandoro towards the public with the words: “This dessert supports research into fake charity”.
The Balocco affair is just the tip of the iceberg. Flanked by Serena Mazzini, the blogger with whom she collaborates and shares the anti-Ferragnez crusade, Lucarelli has chosen to retrace all the phases of the ‘threesome relationship’ with spouses in crisis. From the beginning. There is also a defamation lawsuit filed by Fedez against Selvaggia Lucarelli, “for having called him a dirty child”, after the singer’s speech on stage on May 1st 2021. “The judge decided that I have to stand trial for this, so it’s about defending freedom of opinion and being able to call someone a ‘fucking child'”.
She also has it with her fellow journalists, who in her opinion are guilty of “leaving her alone” in this crusade, “because the press has never dealt with them except for gossip”. The reason for Lucarelli is simple: “Journalists are the first groupies of power, they are very much fascinated by the famous. If you think of a journalist as a professional distant from things, you are wrong. There is the voluntary servant syndrome: you feel like a vassal welcomed into the great kingdom. And at a certain point, to earn the gratitude of Chiara and Federico, they began to isolate me.” To the point of highlighting this contrast ‘between her and them’ in every headline: “Lucarelli targets, asphalts and tears Chiara Ferragni to pieces”.
For Selvaggia Lucarelli, the Ferragnez were a social phenomenon to be investigated with a careful and critical eye, “because they have influenced everything in the last 7 years: from culture to politics, to the aspirational models of young people”. “Could I have imagined that two people who tattoo radios on their wrists would become reference models for the Italian left?”.
What turned on the light bulb for you? “In 2017, Fedez was a judge on X Factor and published a photo on social media with Levante, which was then removed. I wrote a stupid article, an exercise in style on my blog, in which I simulated a conversation between the two, imagining Chiara’s jealousy. Shortly after, I received an email from the couple’s press office inviting me to specify that it was a fictional dialogue, because among the comments there were those who didn’t understand it. Not even Mentana would have taken it so badly. And so I said to myself: do these guys with the radio tattoos really take themselves so seriously? And since I like nothing more than restoring reality to those who take themselves too seriously, I decided to take an interest in the phenomenon.”
“The first intimate meeting between Chiara and Fedez took place in September 2015 during the Milan Fashion Week, a meeting that she wants to remain secret because that is to be sure of a relationship with this rapper with a somewhat controversial lady. The paparazzi, look case, they manage to immortalize the scene. It’s very rare to be caught on the first evening…I thus discovered that Fedez had spread the news through his press officeI would like to but I don’t post, but it’s convenient that gossip journalists post“.
He also has concerns about the marriage proposal at the Verona arena: “That is the first piece of the Ferragnez srl empire. That evening he sings, very out of tune among other things, then he stops, freezes and there is the proposal live: he kneels, because he is at that height, and it becomes clear that he puts the music on the sidelines and puts his love story at the center of the stage, which will earn much more than with music, which became his secondary activity. He argues with everyone, even with himself.”
The presentation then continued with a long series of examples of “window dressing” of the couple’s life, “for the wedding” even “the plane tickets, the gate, and the headrest were branded”.
He also has some for those present: “Everything happens through social media. We have the illusion of knowing everything about their lives but in reality it is only what they want to show. With the filters and narration that they decide, falling for 99% of what they want to tell us. Falling for you, because we here on stage have continued to see things for what they are”.
Today Fedez is expected at the Turin Book Fair for a dialogue with David Lazzari, national president of the Order of Psychologists. Will he reply?