Rai 1
Don Matteo

The moment before lunch is a crucial time of the day.

Whatever you are doing, you necessarily set it aside. It happens that, after concluding that even this morning with study I haven't solved a damn thing, I close the books and let myself be carried away by the culinary smells coming from the kitchen. But often, or most of the time, it happens that what awakens my instincts as a hungry hippopotamus is the opening theme of Don Matteo, which you all surely know. The feeling is that this wonderful musical piece is somehow linked to my appetite. It often happens, therefore, that upon hearing this sonic orgasm, my stomach begins to growl. And after many years, you no longer question why, you recognize it from the first note and dart into the kitchen like a madman.

'How does Terence Hill at 70 years old ride a bicycle as if it were nothing', I wonder as I struggle even to open the refrigerator. It seems like time has passed for everyone except him, I think to myself. And I deduce every time that maybe the choice to go from being a member of one of the greatest cinema duos with the late Bud, whose wound is still open, to the priest of Gubbio biking around, perhaps wasn't one of the happiest. But how great is it to still see one of the heroes of my childhood on television?

It seems that over time, indeed, the idea of a detective fan of Saint Peter was no longer so easily accepted by the public. And it's perhaps at that point that some genius decided to inject a bit of UPAS (for the uninitiated, 'Un posto al sole') into Don Matteo ('Don Babbeo', according to my brother). And thus are born out of nowhere ridiculous but easy-to-grasp stories of everyday life, such as the Captain wanting the daughter of Marshal Antonini, excellently played in my opinion by Nino Frassica, to leave him, not to mention David Guetta's sister, google to believe, who plays the country woman with an annoying voice and the personality of a watermelon, married to the dumb brother of Grumpy.

But it is in the usual lengthy final sermon of our trusted priest that I understand why Don Matteo is the first program in television history where Terence Hill isn't dubbed but speaks with his original voice: a soporific sound comes out of his mouth, more effective than a tranquilizer, which risks making me feel the sleepy after-lunch slump at two hours before, with the risk of making me faceplant into my pasta and lentils. And it's as the marshal's daughter gives the captain yet another brush-off that I wonder why in a crappy town like Gubbio people are so angry as to commit a murder a day, and especially how Father Matteo can ride a bicycle with such a long tunic without the dress getting caught in the wheels and causing a colossal fall, ending face-first at the cathedral. But I suppose these are questions without answers, like wondering about the usefulness of DeContrasto.

I often end up thinking about it, and it feels strange to remember that until a few months ago, it was Antonella Clerici with her cooking show that awakened my voracious instincts, and how much I would have liked to throw the plate out the window during the sudden hearing of that irritating theme song. And it’s there that my perception of things changes radically... But how cool is Don Matteo?