Actor Giorgio Pasotti talks about himself at Caruso, Belmond Hotel Amalfi Coast

by Emilia Filocamo

“As a child, my mother took me on vacation to a place very similar to Ravello, far from the confusion, magical, full of poetry.” Actor Giorgio Pasotti talks about his memories and projects at the Caruso, at Belmond Hotel Amalfi Coast.

This interview begins with a journey: of course, one could add that, after all, all interviews are journeys. They are itineraries that enter the world of the interviewee, between the folds of his paths, of life, between second thoughts and dreams, victories and small defeats. But, in this specific case it really happens while he is traveling to reach Ravello and the Caruso. It is an unusual situation in which we will also talk about the destination, even before reaching it, and the destination itself will hover, more or less clear and distinct, throughout the course of our chat .

Fiction, cinema and theatre: if you could associate each of these experiences with an age or period of your life, which one would you choose and why? I can't think of a specific period, or rather, I can't choose because they were all different and equally important. My beginnings are definitely linked to cinema: my beginning was with I piccoli maestri by Daniele Luchetti, an important work that landed in Venice. Then it was Muccino's turn and all this happened around the age of 30. Then, after that, from 30 onwards I would say, there was the television interlude thanks to which I played very successful characters. Well, that for me was a phase of total discovery. Back then, the platforms of today didn't exist, the only ones competing for the share were Rai 1 and Canale 5 and this allowed viewers to stay glued to the television. I remember an episode of Distretto di Polizia in which I was present that recorded 14 million viewers, a real record that would be almost unthinkable now. But above all that phase made me understand the power of TV, the ability it has to enter the homes of viewers and win them over. Then, with my mature age, the theater arrived. In this sense I can say that I am taking a path in reverse compared to other colleagues who started directly from the theater and I tell you that the emotions and satisfactions that it gives are priceless. First of all, the theater is the true home of the actors, and then the contact with the audience is intimate, you can feel their breathing, touch their emotions. Now, however, I have moved on to the phase of directing and writing, a territory in which you have to be prepared because it is absolutely fascinating but also very complex. However, seeing your own idea take shape is something incredible, a truly unique emotion.

As you said yourself, you have played characters that the public has become particularly fond of, in very successful fiction. When, in your opinion, does an actor really realize that the time has come to leave a character and move on, despite the flattering feedback?

Many colleagues remain stuck in a character for years. I have a rule, but always, never to play more than two series, then comes the need, almost physiological, to change skin. I fear total identification with the character played and this can also damage because afterwards you are no longer credible in other roles. So I prefer to abandon: I still remember the discussion with the producer of Distretto di Polizia when I decided to leave my character who was very successful, a character who was then killed off. He didn't want to do it but then, with time, I was right because my character, disappearing, remained in the collective imagination, in the hearts of all the spectators.

When we first spoke on the phone, you told me that you were on set in the mountains for two months. Can you tell us what job you were working on and can you give us a preview of your next projects?

I don't want to sit here and list all the projects because then I would be boring. I was in the mountains for the filming of the movie Il Rosso Volante, the story of Eugenio Monti, a bobsleigh champion from Cortina who had a wild life. The film will be released on the occasion of the start of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Bobsleigh is a sport that is rarely talked about but absolutely cinematic: it is lived on the threshold of thousandths, there is strength, sacrifice, risk of death, courage. He won his medal in 1968, at 40 years old, something unthinkable in the '60s. It is a Rai film that, in fact, will open the Winter Olympics next year. And then I am the director of Otello in the rewriting by Dacia Maraini. We will debut in Verona on July 10th as part of the Veronese Theatre Summer. The Campania actor from Mare Fuori, Giacomo Giorgio, will play Otello, and I will be Iago, so we are really just a few days away from the debut.

Is there a film, obviously Italian, that you regret not being part of? Absolutely. I auditioned with Luciano Ligabue for Radio Freccia but I wasn't chosen. It happens, unfortunately. I was very sorry because I adore Luciano, I consider him a great artist.

You are among the winners of Facce da Spot 2024, a kermesse conceived and successfully realized by Maximiliano Gigliucci and Graziano Scarabicchi , held last September in Rome, at the Ara Pacis. Your relationship as a spectator with advertising? As a spectator, I still consider advertising a filmic idea, an artistic project, even if it has commercial purposes. I have an excellent relationship also because I am a BMW Ambassador on social channels and this allows me to interpret, but also to direct and write the texts, so it is a sort of exercise in style. And then I was a testimonial for Mulino Bianco, a parenthesis that I still consider absolutely pleasant, fun.

Who did you dedicate your first success to? The first person you thought of the exact moment you realized you had made it? I dedicated my first success to my parents. I was 27 and when I had the feeling of having made it. Everything was happening in a world that was not a life project, I wanted to become a doctor, and then I am not the son of an artist. I wanted to dedicate it to them because they have always been understanding, they have always supported me in my choices even when they took me away from home. And it was not a given that it could happen. My thoughts immediately went to them.

At Caruso we celebrate slow luxury which is equivalent to dedicating oneself to oneself, to rediscovering one’s time since time, in fact, is the greatest of luxuries. What is the “time”, or rather the moment of life that Giorgio Pasotti would like to bring back and why? I am very happy and grateful for everything I have, I say lucky even if I don't believe in luck but in willpower, sacrifice, hard work and study. However, if they told me "give up everything you have, success and take another turn", I would do it immediately. The inexorable passage of time is evident, life, as they say, is a breath, time is the most democratic of creatures so, if I were absurdly offered such a possibility, I would immediately say yes.

The interview ends here: the journey is still ongoing, having just begun. How can I explain to Giorgio Pasotti, as he leaves the city, that here, behind every bend, time is a discovery and a vision? That the scent of lemons is so insistent that it stuns? That the gardens climb fearlessly over the waves, that sea and sky are one. How can I explain to him in a truly clear way that here you linger longer than anywhere else to look at a view and that you are never late because you live the moment in its exceptionality? Then I think about it, calmly. No, I don't have to explain it to him. In about three hours he will be in Ravello, at the Caruso, and then he will be able to explain everything by himself. And to answer this question or the thousand others that life poses to us, he will have all the time he wants.