The adventures in the resorts

Partly seriously, partly joking, Fiorello has always considered his years of work in the vacation resorts as some sort of “unending vacation”. It really was not true:  he worked hard from morning until night to entertain the guests.  But he does admit that his attitude had become one that was rather carefree. Of those years he recalls meeting many interesting people and many wonderful memories.

It would be ironic to define Fiorello as a “vacationer” during the times he worked at the resorts, since, in reality, he worked from morning until night, had no specific times off from work, and even when he did take a break, he would spend it creating new entertainments and new attractions. The true vacationers were those he entertained. But, in the end, he does admit to having grown up with a mentality of those resorts and has struggled to free himself from it. As he said back in 1994: “I was always locked up in there. I had done a bit of everything, but most of all entertainment. I was also assistant chef and bartender. During the summer at the shore and in the wintertime on the slopes. I had actually forgotten of regular clothes:  I would go from Bermuda shorts, t-shirts and light shirts to windbreakers, ski-boots and moon-boots. I was a happy lifer, one who wore the uniform of leisure.  When I came to Milano, during the first times I felt very much out of place.  I was even afraid to cross the street. Traffic scared me as did the level of activity of the people from Milano, always on the go. Today, thanks to the teaching of Cecchetto, I have become the most local of the people from Lombardy.

Let’s look at the resorts where Fiorello has worked. The debut was in 1978 in Brucoli, near Augusta. He lived at home and this was, more than anything, a summer job for a student who needed some extra cash. And so he continued for a few years.  In 1982 he was called up for military service: boot camp in Bari, active duty in Sacile, near Pordenone. Once over with his military duty he picked up where he had left off. And was sent in 1983 to the Ivory Coast, at a resort called Les Palatudières.  In 1984 and 1985 he was in Nicotera, in Calabria and San Sicario in Piedmont. Then in Calabria again, in Simeri and in Pila, in Valle d’Aosta. And, still working his summer-winter schedule, in Ostuni (Brindisi) and Marilleva, in Trentino. Then a jump overseas to El Kebir in Tunisia. And after that to Santo Stefano in Sardinia to then come back to Simeri, where he met Bernardo Cherubini, brother of Jovanotti and instructor of archery. The arrow had hit its mark.