Antonello Venditti
Lo stambecco ferito

Felice Riva (1935-2014) was a well-known entrepreneur, as well as a sports manager (he was the president of AC Milan from 1963 to 1965) in Italy. After the sudden death of his father in 1960, at only 25 years old, he inherited a true economic empire, namely the Vallesusa textile group, which at the time included around thirty plants and about 18,000 employees, as well as many associated and controlled companies, both in Italy and abroad. A lover of luxury, the good life, and beautiful women, he soon began to "squander" his wealth on decidedly risky investments and financial operations which soon proved to be ruinous. All this led to the 1965 bankruptcy declaration of the aforementioned Vallesusa group, caused by a "hole" of 46 billion lire, an astronomical figure for the time: the various plants began to close, and about 9,000 employees found themselves almost overnight without jobs and wages. In 1969, Felice Riva was sentenced to six years in prison for fraudulent bankruptcy and abuse of credit. Released from prison after just twenty days due to a procedural flaw and "hunted" by an international arrest warrant, he decided to flee with all his assets first to France (Nice, Paris), then to Greece (Athens) and finally to Lebanon (Beirut). Even in Beirut, despite about fifty days of initial detention and separation from his first wife, he managed to lead a wealthy and luxurious life, surrounded by women, luxury cars, and excesses, to the point of being referred to as a true "golden stay".

In 1975, Antonello Venditti recorded the song "Lo stambecco ferito", included in the album "Lilly". The lyrics of this song are clearly inspired by the events of Felice Riva as previously described, in particular his escape from Italy, although "filtered" through allegory. Furthermore, Felice Riva's "conducts" must have had significant resonance at the time and even later, prompting two other Italian singer-songwriters, in addition to Venditti, to "deal" with him in their songs: Rino Gaetano in the same 1975 with "Ma il cielo è sempre più blu" ("who leaves for Beirut and has a billion in his pocket") and Giorgio Gaber with "Lui" from 1972 ("These apostles, these emblematic figures, so close to Him, are our Saints: Saint Agnelli, Saint Pirelli, Saint Costa... Saint Giovanni Borghi, Saint Marzotto of Yarns, Saint Felice Riva of Vallesusa... martyr").

As mentioned, Venditti's song, even though allegorical, is surely inspired by the figure and events of Felice Riva, and it "targets" particularly Riva's escape, his luxurious and excessive life, as well as the suffering caused to employees: "The tennis rackets confused behind the seat and his sunglasses bought on the Costa Smeralda. Between the ceiling and the roof skin forty billion lire that the cows can quietly eat tomorrow. The whiskey bottles, memory of distant orgies, wait to be opened by their owner"; "And two factories closed in Calabria await bread"; "Forty billion lire hidden between the steel and the roof skin"; "He will sell his toilet cups in China or Japan after freeing his blonde companion out of boredom. And his son? His son will roam like a thousand-pound note in English colleges, will see his dad again on the photo of some newspaper".

In the song, there appear the ibex, personification of Felice Riva himself, and a poacher who wants to kill him with his rifle. But what is the meaning of this song? Antonello himself, when asked about the topic, never wanted to give precise indications, although in some of his interviews one can gather some clues: "the song tells of a public figure who flees Italy with a long line of fixers, luxury cars, women, and money"; "I remember that at San Siro stadium in '92, in a stadium that wanted to sing, to be happy, to make noise, I sang “Lo stambecco ferito”. Sometimes to hear 70,000 people become silent is more important than to hear them applaud". According to, let's say, the prevalent interpretation (even if we are not in the Supreme Court), the ibex-Riva would represent the corrupt system and the poacher who wants to kill him would instead represent justice (proletarian?). And it seems that Venditti, in another interview, had declared the following: "this song wants to open a case of conscience, namely if it is right to kill for political reasons". A question probably destined to remain unanswered neither then, nor now, nor ever, as inferred from the end of the piece: "Pity makes me say no to a fleeing lion, the trigger is blocked by ice: "I don't want to see". A gunshot echoes trembling throughout the valley. "Police kill poacher on Como land"; the happy and drunk ibex flies far away. And the disappointed and defeated fog slowly retreats". The probable reference to proletarian justice led some to associate this piece with "La locomotiva" by Francesco Guccini.

Musically, the track, lasting about ten minutes (!), is a long suite that concludes with a beautiful instrumental piano coda, titled "La morte del bracconiere", so much so that someone even spoke of prog and others even comparisons with Keith Jarrett. Now, the comparison with Jarrett may be irreverent, but Venditti, although perhaps "a bastard", is certainly not a simple "pianobar pianist" (both pretty little things that his former friend De Gregori will reproach him for in the coeval album "Rimmel": a bad thing when friendships crumble!), with all due respect for the mentioned pianobar pianists. On the contrary, he knows how to play the instrument and very well too.

Conclusion: for the undersigned, one of the greatest songs ever, both for the lyrics and the music, not only of Venditti but of all Italian music, certainly not "commercial" and not "catchy", and therefore not destined to be sung out loud during his concerts (although it is contained in an album that would turn out to be Antonello's first bestseller), as would happen especially later with his. Even though the undersigned himself does not disdain many other "commercial" things created by Venditti afterward, especially in the '80s!