Best wishes from the historic barber from Mattarella: “For the 80th birthday I would have liked to cut his hair … ‘

“Tomorrow I will send a beautiful message to the President and I will thank him for all he has done in these seven years. Of course, I would have liked to have cut his hair on the occasion of his 80th birthday. But he told me that he will stay in Rome, so it will not be possible. . Sin…”. Franco Alfonso is Sergio Mattarella’s historic barber. He is 82 years old and for over twenty years he has cut the hair of the Head of State. “Even if Covid has changed our periodic appointments – says Franco Alfonso in an interview with Adnkronos – Because after the lockdown he only rarely came to Palermo, while before he came every month”. And he remembers, smiling, that episode of the video that went viral, at the end of March 2020, in full lockdown, when in an out-of-the-box, speaking with his advisor for press and communication, Giovanni Grasso, he said: “Giovanni, I’m not going either at the barber shop “. These words were enough, in an out-of-the-box that went viral, to unleash the web. “In fact he had them very long …” Franco Alfonso recalls. “After the end of the lockdown we had a laugh – says the barber – he, without knowing he was framed, said that phrase that went viral. He hadn’t cut them, while some politicians said that they had cut them. But I don’t believe it. .. Instead he, as a serious person, has not gone even once “. But since Mattarella became the number one tenant of the Quirinale, he has sometimes even changed barber. “I get it right away when he has a cut that isn’t mine,” he says. Franco Alfonso retired a few months ago, but “I will always be there for the President”, he proudly explains. “The last time I saw, recently – Franco Alfonso continues – I told President Mattarella that I turned 80 two years ago and I showed him the photos of the party I had. ‘it was written: ’80 will to live’ and he told me she was very pretty “. “I’m sorry that these 7 years have passed so quickly, we hope it can continue for a while longer. Everyone says it, but not him …” But when did Franco Alfonso and President Mattarella meet? “About twenty years ago, during a political event at Don Bosco Ranchibile in Palermo – he says – I told him that I wanted to cut his hair. Since then he came to me every two weeks for a hair treatment. Then, when he became President he continued. to come but the pandemic stopped everything. We were months without seeing each other. And then he came back. “‘Maybe we’ll see you in August … I always made him the same cut’ ‘Alfonso regretted not having been able to make the cut for 80 years of the President. “But stay in Rome …”, he reiterates. “Maybe we’ll see you in August.” “I’ve always made him the same traditional cut, cu nasci tunnu un po ‘moriri quadratu (who is born round cannot die square ed). He is a very serious person, always in the same way. he can afford an extravagant hair. The other day at the Quirinale, during a ceremony, I think when he received the delegation of the national football team, a gust of wind made him lift his hair. You could see that his hair was in the air, but I I immediately said that it was because of the breeze of Rome that ruffled it “. “Because every time he’s disheveled, they tell me ‘Franco, why is the President disheveled?’. When I’m here, I’ll comb it and it’s okay, but if you get off the plane and dishevel it’s normal”. “Tomorrow he will be eighty and I will recommend the phrase I wrote on my cake: ’80 will to live ‘. Because at 80 the will to live increases even more …” (by Elvira Terranova)