Rosario Tindaro Fiorello
from A to Z
A is for Augusta...
Rosario was born in the hospital of
Catania.. but, like he says, "in transfer"! In fact he spent his youth
in Augusta...a little town, considered the heart of Sicily, where a lot of
famous and historic people, musicians and physicians came by... he is a great
person of the showbiz!
In this city Rosario grew up and started to work, first as a carpenter,
then as a helper as a mortician, mason and
then the great step to being a DJ for Radio Marte, the radio of the oriental
Sicily, where Fiore beat every record. He made it to transmit music for 70 hours
non stop! An action that Rosario's father, Nicola, will remember as
"stupid".
Rosario studies in Augusta. First kindergarten, then elementary school, high
school and at last the lyceum "Andrea Saluta" (or Principe di Napoli),
where Rosario played many tricks!
Considering his character and his great sympathy, Rosario couldn't pass
unnoticed in Augusta... the people, looking at him, said "ma cumm'è bravu'
stu figghiu" which translated from Sicilian to English means "this guy
is really good".
B is for Baldini...
1989 
2002
Marco Baldini is a great friend of Rosario.
Together they presented a program at Radio
DeeJay, where Fiore met a lot of friends, among others Amedeus, Cecchetto, Linus, Albertino
and Leonardo
Pieraccioni.
Rosario and Marco presented a program again in 2001 (after the success of Stasera pago
io) entitled Viva
Radio Due. We have been able to hear them for fifty episodes of pure
entertainment. Fiore imitated, joked and sang... Just remember Nanni Moretti,
the Circo
calabrese or Clemente Mimmum! The success of the program was so great, that two
CDs with the songs sang by Fiorello, came out.
In 2002, Marco Baldini has been a part of the cast (as an author) of the new
edition of Stasera Pago Io, called Stasera pago io… in
Euro,
Besides that, Radio Due, with the voice of Marco Baldini, intervened during the
program asking Fiore to do some of his great imitations: first out of all of
them the honorable... Ignazio La Russa and his “diciamolo”!
C is for Cecchetto...
Claudio Cecchetto, the talent-scout who
discovered Fiorello.
In 1989 they meet. Fiore is in Milan with Bernardo Cherubini, his
“colleague in the villages” and brother of Lorenzo… Jovanotti. At the end
of a season, Bernardo invites Fiore in Milan saying:
“Why don't you come to Milan? You know, my brother is making a record with con
Cecchetto”..
And Fiore follows him without hesitation! One night he is dining in an eating house with some friends of the holiday villages and at his table there is
also an important person: Cecchetto. Fiore acts in a totally normal way, but he
manages it to amaze Claudio, who invites him for a test the next day at Radio
Deejay.
The next day Fiore arrives exactly in time, goes upstairs to the fourth floor,
grabs a microphone and shows what he is able to do... without knowing his is
live on air! He imitates singers, famous people, everybody... Immediately the
telephone line is overactive... everybody wants to know who this sympathetic guy
is. And this is when Claudio Cecchetto asks Rosario to stay at the radio and to
see how things will go!
After a while Fiorello's career in the holiday villages ends and the new one
starts, as a radio dj with the program Viva Radio
Deejay.
D is for Dio vede e provvede...
In November 1996, Fiore has his first
experience as an actor.
He plays a part in the series of “Dio vede e provvede”. In one episode he
interprets a priest who is celebrating the wedding between the main character, a
nun (Angela Finocchiaro) and a priest (Remo Girone); of course it only concerns
a dream of the main character!
Fiore celebrates the wedding on his way, singing the song “Ci vuole
amore”, which you can find on the CD Saro
Fiorello, which came out in the end of 1996.
A peculiarity: the single with the song “Ci vuole amore” has been given away
to all the people who were going to get married in that period!
After this participation, Fiore had to interpret Don Bosco in a theatre show,
which had to be showed for the Pope in the year 2000 in occasion of the Jubilee...
but this project unfortunately didn't work out in the end.
E is for E ... poi finalmente tu...
“Finalmente tu”… a song with which
Rosario really has a "bond". Thanks to this song "our hero" realized his dream and the dream of his father Nicola... to
participate at Sanremo!
Everything starts when his father, seeing him entertaining a night in a holiday
village with a huge success, said joking: "I will know that you've became
famous, only when I will see you at Sanremo".
Maybe because of this, on the stage of the Ariston, Rosario was the most
touched... his heart beat faster than expected... In an interview he said:
" I hope that my dad watched me from up there"..
Little peculiarity: in the first night, Rosario came up the stage with
something, trying to hide it... it was his father's hat...
F is for Family...
Rosario's family is composed of mother
Rosaria, two sisters Anna and Catena (Cati) and his "little
brother"
Giuseppe (Beppe). Their father, Nicola, died in 1990.
Rosario has a good bond with his family. As soon as he has some time left, he
goes to Sicily to visit his mom and his sister Anna, who is the owner of a
perfumery in Augusta. Anna is married to Antonio and has a child, Nicoletta.
Catena works with Rosario and lives near him; they gave her this particular name
in remembrance of her grandma who died before her birth.
Giuseppe is the last one and he is a great actor!
G is for Giuseppe...
Giuseppe…. The ex “Fiorellino” who
today learnt to "walk with his own legs" and made it to let the people
appreciate him for what he really is and not for being the brother of Fiorello.
He started to work with Rosario in the holiday villages. He helped with the
lights of the show. Then, step by step he also became an entertainer. Then, in
1994, he presents the third edition of Karaoke, but he doesn't have the success
they expected...
After a period of "unemployment", he starts his career in the world of
television, but this time as an actor. He plays in some important movies.. a few
of them are "L'ultimo
capodanno" (1997), "Ultimo" (1998), "C'era un cinese in
coma" (1999), "Il morso del serpente" (2000),
"Brancaccio" (2001) and "La guerra è finita" (2002).
Giuseppe has a different character compared to Rosario. He is more shy, reflective.. and
because of this sometimes he "envies" the "charge" his
brother has. But besides all of this, the two brothers have a very good bond. They
showed it to all of us when they dedicated a song to their deceased father.
H is for Hotel...
Before becoming the "National
Fiorello", Rosario had to work many years. First in the holiday
villages, then on the radio at Radio DeeJay.
Often after the nights, organized by the radio, with Rosario as central figure,
"our hero" and his staff would meet again in the rooms of the hotels.
His friend Nicola Savino said that Fiore often synchronized films and spots to
entertain his friends after the show.
And this is another characteristic of Rosario, even though today he is very
famous... Fiore will always remain himself!
I is for Io Vagabondo...
Within all the songs Rosario sang, “Io vagabondo” is one of his favorites. In fact, this song is never missing in his shows and he also sang it on his cd “Finalmente tu”, which came out in 1995.
L is for Lavoro... (work)
Rosario has done everything and nothing in
his life... he started at a very young age with work, knowing that he couldn't
always ask his parents for money.
Rosario started as a mason and then he continued as a dishwasher, bartender,
delivery boy and even helper as a mortician. In the meanwhile he moves his first
steps into the "showbiz world", working as a DJ at the Sicilian radio,
Radio Marte.
Then as we know there are the holiday villages. Fiore enters as an assistant
cook and after that he became a waiter and later on a bartender.
One night, the official DJ of the holiday village of Brucoli goes away and the
manager of the holiday village invites Fiore to do something to entertain the
guests. He grabs the microphone, improvises a show and has a huge success! He
improvises, interviews the people that come by, sings, imitates and talks a lot.
The party finishes in the middle of the night, nobody wants to go home. Again
the next
day: gags, jokes, improvisations between the tables of the bar. This is
the moment... The manager calls him and "promotes" him as an
entertainer.