I’ll admit that I didn’t know who
Carlo Ponti was until a few weeks ago when my friend Anna invited me to a
concert in Roma. It was a benefit
concert for a charity called “Gregorio Fun and Safe”, which promotes motorcycle
safety to young kids. As with most
charities, its founding was the result of a tragic motorcycle accident which
took the life of Gregorio Brianzoli, aged 26.
Gregorio’s mother, Chantel, along with her sister, Desireé,
are some of Anna’s closest friends from grade school. And Gloria is the matriarch of the lot (see my
blogpost from November – A Roman Weekend.)
The draw for a Monday night concert in Roma was none other than Sophia Loren.
Never one to pass up a good
charity event, I graciously accepted Anna’s invitation and didn’t think
anything more of it until I was about to leave for the weekend. The concert was entitled: Omaggio di Carlo Ponti. If you search on Carlo Ponti you’ll discover
a great many things, but the most important facts are he was a big-time movie
producer, and he was Sophia Loren’s husband.
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Sophia meets the paparrazzi |
The concert featured Carlo Ponti
Jr. who is a conductor, and Edoardo Ponti, an actor/director/producer. Carlo Jr. got Sophia’s looks; Edoardo got
Carlo’s. Carlo Jr. conducted the Roma
Sinfonietta orchestra and they played music from three of Ponti’s movies: La Strada, La Ciociara, and Il Dottor Zivago, connected by a family narrative/tribute
read by Edoardo. If you haven’t seen La
Ciociara (Two Women, or The Women) you should run out and rent it. It’s the
movie that Sophia won her Oscar for Best Actress way back in 1962 and it’s
pretty fabulous in that post-war, late fifties/early sixties gritty Italian
realism kind of way, but I digress. The
second part of the concert was Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.
Anna and I got smartly dressed,
met up with Sonia (another friend) and off we went for aperitifs (drinks & a bit of food) and the concert at Parco
della Musica, a 2002 Renzo Piano building and site of the Rome Film Festival
among other things.
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Sophia Loren |
The pre-concert entertainment featured
a parade of famous Italians (all of whom had to be pointed out to me) and a
very well-heeled crowd – all the fur and all the jewels were real, followed by a
photo-op of Sophia herself. It was fun
to watch the real paparazzi in action! The concert started late, naturally, and just
beforehand, Sophia arrived in the auditorium. Everyone got up and applauded as
she took her seat – I imagine kind of like what happens when the Queen arrives
at a function. Sophia sat 5 rows directly behind me, so it was a bit difficult
to gawk, but you knew you were in the presence of aging-gracefully greatness!
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Mayor Alemanno (left), Edoardo, Sophia, Carlo Jr. The blonde woman is
on TV, but don't remember her name. |
After the concert, Sophia joined her children on stage and accepted a present from the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno.
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Edoardo, Sophia, Carlo Jr. |
More paparazzi and a few words
of thanks and the evening was finished.
The crowd lingered longer than it normally would have, all in the hopes
of catching more Sophia sightings or better yet, a chance to meet her. Alas she avoided us lesser beings and
probably went out for a smart dinner with her sons, as she should have. It was a most memorable evening.