Roby Facchinetti, my Bergamo will be reborn from pain

A city that suffers. In an unreal silence, in an unreal space. Bergamo, one of the areas of Italy hardest hit by the coronavirus emergency. "I look out the window and this clean air that we had forgotten amazes me, this silence frightens me, because the only sound that makes room is that of the ambulance sirens". Roby Facchinetti is moved, imprisoned for over twenty days in his home in the Lombard city. Like so many, he had to deal with unexpected bereavements: a cousin and a close friend. And then many, too many acquaintances who left without being able to exchange a last goodbye.
"We are all the same in front of the virus. Every call I receive is a dramatic bulletin of new infections or deaths, I am now afraid when the phone rings. And the phrase that is becoming more and more recurrent among us is: we hope to see you again. So, without adding anything else, because there is only this to be hoped for, "says the ex Pooh, tried by pain, anger, tension and fear. "But terror is the feeling that belongs to us more than others at the moment - he says, with a whisper - for what can happen to our families, to loved ones. Leaving the house is like walking on a minefield. The situation is not tragic, moreover. At the cemetery there is a two-month list, the hospitals are collapsing, doctors and nurses, real heroes and heroines, are exhausted. And it is destabilizing not to know when all this will end: we are powerless and we ask ourselves, without having an answer, where God is at this moment ". That God of the cities that, like never before today, makes us be and feel "Lonely Men", just like the Pooh sang.
In this dramatic situation, Facchinetti turned to what has always helped him in the most beautiful and darkest moments of his life: music. "When, a few days ago, I saw the images of the military trucks that took the coffins away from Bergamo, I cried all the way. They passed 50 meters from my house: I imagined that there could also be my loved ones there. image that destroyed me emotionally - still continues in his heartbreaking story -.
I needed to be there in some way, to react, to do my part with what I can do. So I got down to the piano and in 5 minutes a song dedicated to Bergamo was born to which I gave a title that was an exhortation to do it: 'I will be reborn, you will be reborn'. Music is escapism and we need not to think about what's going on for a while, or at least think less about it. "
Once the music was composed, a text that was one with the score was needed. Facchinetti called his longtime friend and colleague Stefano D'Orazio (Roman, but from Bergamo by adoption), who within a few hours put down a sincere, moving, sensitive text, full of trust and respect for those who are suffering.
"Stefano knows me very well, and he knows Bergamo and its population just as well. I have transferred my feelings to him in words and with music. The result is a tribute to the wounded city, which will be able to be reborn. wanted Bergamo friends, gathered thanks to the collaboration of Daniele Vavassori, and the guitars of the finale are played by Diego Arrigoni, the guitarist of Modà, also from Bergamo ".
"Bergamo is my second city - says Stefano D'Orazio - I lived a large part of my artistic life and I carry it in my heart. When Roby called me sobbing, I immediately went to work". A quote from Dante to "see the stars", "because in the end we too will be able to get out of our Hell, even if nothing will perhaps be the same as before. Hoping to learn to give more importance to feelings and not to interests". It is a wish to return "to trust God". "That seems to be the great absentee - admits D'Orazio -, but we cannot believe we have been abandoned".
The song, arranged by Danilo Ballo with Marco Barusso's mix, will be available (for Sony Music) from tomorrow and will be accompanied by a video with images of the city mounted with the faces of those who participated in the project, including hospital staff , doctor, nurse from Bergamo, the coach and the Atalanta players. The proceeds will be entirely donated to the Pope John XXIII city hospital for the purchase of medical equipment.
And on Saturday 28 March RTL 102.5 will dedicate a special space from 8 to 9 to the initiative "A song for Bergamo", with Facchinetti and D'Orazio in connection to tell how the project was born; Bergamo city personalities such as the mayor Giorgio Gori, Giorgio Pasotti, Sofia Goggia and others will also participate. (HANDLE).