Pif discusses mafia, TV career and social issues in a podcast interview

Toto Riina, Messina, Provenzano. In the interview that Pif (artist name of Pierfrancesco Diliberto) indicates the podcast Passa dal BSMT Through Gianluca Gazzolithere is a lot of talk about the mafia. The vlogger and television host has based much of his career on this subject. But there is also much more discussed because the 52-year-old from Palermo tries to bring you into his world, although he starts it humbly with: ‘I am monotonous. I don’t do drugs, I don’t smoke, and I don’t drink coffee. The only passion in my life is videos. I became rich because I earned and didn’t spend.” However, he often puts himself in such situations, like then Giovanni Veronesi invited him for dinner Robert DeNiro: “I had to go back to Italy for a meeting and refused. The next day he told me that it was at De Niro’s house too Joe Pesci drinking whiskey on the terrace.

A new television genre

Simplicity has always been its strong point Pifwho says: “I showed that you can make a television program with a small camera and a computer. I even edited the first editions with the free version of Prime Minister. MTV offered me a sound engineer, but I declined. I wanted a humanized story, with the same quality as your cousin’s wedding.” The idea of ​​his program Il testimone was to enter the daily lives of celebrities: “I liked to take them to the supermarket, where the average person goes go. I remember Fabri Fibra asking at the cash register if the catalog was being renewed because he had the stickers and wanted the new coffee maker.’ The vlogger did not want to know the guest in advance in order to gradually build a bond with the viewer. By the third time he met But he started to feel the discomfort: “You are at their house and you realize that they are starting to get tired. They’re not funny anymore, and you see what they really are like. When I decided to stop the episode with Giorgia Melonishe didn’t expect it and then wrote to apologize because she had a hard day.” Then a promise that will make his fans happy: “I have to redo Il testimone 10 years later to see what happens to all those people happened. In the meantime, I’m writing some TV specials.”

Renzi, Meloni and Fedez

During the chat on BSMThe also reflects on memories of some guests of his show. He has seen a big evolution with some of them: “I did an episode with them Matteo Renzi as mayor of Florence and Giorgia Meloni as Minister of Youth. I had the feeling that Meloni would remain in politics, then she deserves credit for her departure Berlusconi and start her own party that has 2%. From a television perspective, she’s very funny: she makes fun of herself and wins you over. Renzi is funny, but as a Tuscan he has no problem ‘bashing’ you. Due to audio problems I lost the first twenty minutes of the recording, and the rest of the time we spent together he made fun of me.” Pif also says that he almost caught Fedez And Ferragni at the beginning of their love story, which had Italy talking for years.

The Lega member and interrupted interviews

Among the roles that Pif played was the League member who went south and despised the people of those places. He received several receptions: “In Palermo they made you understand that you had to leave. In Naples the cliché: the theater started on its own. In Rome someone pulled a knife and we had to run away. I’ve done things that made me look like an idiot.” There was also the format of interrupted interviews: “While we were interviewing someone, we pretended we had seen it Mastrota and I walked away to go to him. The first was CostanzoI didn’t have the courage to go back to him. With Cannavò, the director of the Gazzetta dello Sport, I did the triple of go and return.”

Venditti and social media

Pif is a social media user, but doesn’t like using them as a content creator: “For me, they are the billboard on the roadside. When I have a movie or a show, I advertise it. Initially I thought they could be useful for a debate, but they are not.” He also talks about the case of Antonello Venditti who insulted a fan: “A professional, a gentleman who wrote the history of Italian song, do you think he would insult disabled people? He made this mistake and apologized. Enough now.”

Anti-mafia and Roberto Saviano

“I don’t want to be the anti-mafia champion.” Pif explains that the fight against the mafia has always been dear to him, but he wants to emphasize: “I don’t want to be a leader, I want to participate. If a child sees me as I saw Costanzo And SantoroI am satisfied. But let’s not create an anti-mafia fence; we are all in this fight.” The reflection inevitably shifts to Roberto Saviano: “You may like him or not, but he has created problems for the Camorra, and that’s great. If he does something against the enemy, that’s great. Let’s not forget that Falcone And Borsellino were not superheroes, but people like us. That’s what the current Prime Minister says Saviano has an attic in New York; I’ve been there twice with him, but he never took me there (jokes, ed.). He also extends an invitation: “The fight against the mafia is not just a fight against a criminal organization, but a way of life that I practice every day. It is not true that if you try you will be successful, but it is better than resigning.”

The mafia only kills in the summer

“I’m walking around Palermo and never felt in danger.” Pif says his life continued peacefully even after he made the movie The Mafia Kills Only in Summer: “If I put it on the ‘NdranghetaI would have risked something. Compared to that, the mafia seems like that Sex and the city. In Calabria There are stories going around that resemble the Taliban Afghanistanwith villages where no one has run for mayor for years and children who can only go outside to shop or go to church. Calabria is a country forgotten by everyone; politicians have forgotten this for years Calabria.”

Toto Riina and Matteo Messina Denaro

Pif emphasizes how the mafia is everywhere. He says: “While filming The Mafia Kills Only in Summer, I discovered that in front of the courtyard where I played until I was 8-9 years old, Vito Cianciminoa mafia mayor who often came there Provenzano.” His childhood memories also indirectly mention this Toto Riina: “A friend of mine had a place, we stayed up until three in the morning and then went out for croissants. We got into his car, but he had just gotten his driver’s license. To make a U-turn, it would take he almost hit a neighbor’s gate years when we were in danger of hitting that gate, and then it was discovered that it was Toto Riina’s house You didn’t notice these things In a good school in Palermo you will find the child of a magistrate and that of a mafioso.” He’s also talking about it Matteo Messina Denaro and the anger over his arrest: ‘Some still say they did wrong. Tell that to the parents of the girl who was baptized in Florence and had the funeral in the same church 50 days later. In 2023 you can’t say that I don’t feel sorry for these things and I’m telling you to go to hell. Our lives improved because there were madmen who wanted to take down the mafia. I can’t find a middle ground, life is just or unjust. and what is unjust I must fight.”