ROME - In twenty years Italy has changed, but for millions of spectators it was like a caress to think that a detective priest with a patched robe together with a handful of carabinieri could save the world. The story remains: Terence Hill gets off his bicycle, undresses Don Matteo's cassock, leaves the scene in silence and mysteriously, as he arrived, to pass the baton to Raoul Bova, who will take on the role of a priest without cassocks who will arrive to replace him and investigate his disappearance and will move aboard a motorcycle starting from the fourth episode of the thirteenth season. A farewell to the series, at least for the moment, for Mario Girotti (this is the real name of the actor, now 82 years old and 50 years old, among the comic westerns withfriend Bud Spencer until the success of Don Matteo but much more). A stop after 259 episodes 22 years after the first broadcast (January 7, 2020).
A long television adventure accompanied by record ratings, because the priest-detective immediately fascinated millions of people. Don Matteo, first parish priest of the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Gubbio, then transferred to that of Sant'Eufemia in Spoleto from the ninth season, leaves the scene at the end of the shooting of the fourth (shot last September 18), of the Lux Vide fiction by Luca and Matilde Bernabei and Rai Fiction. "Twenty-two years, 13 seasons and 259 episodes. Thank you." It is Terence Hill on his social accounts to remember the impressive numbers that have kept him tied to Don Matteo, one of the most beloved and long-lived characters of Italian TV. After a customary group photo, the thanks and emotion from the whole production arrived. "It is true,Terence is leaving us - said the producer Luca Bernabei - but we want to interpret this phrase not in a negative sense, rather a positive one. We want to think of the legacy that Terence leaves us in terms of dedication, fidelity and love for Don Matteo and for all the viewers who have followed us in these 20 years. Today we must live up to the myth that does not leave us, but as a father watches us from afar and watches us grow. Aware of Terence's legacy, we have a duty to commit ourselves even more and to carry it forward with the utmost dedication and responsibility. We owe it to the millions of Italians who watch the series and to Terence. "fidelity and love for Don Matteo and for all the viewers who have followed us in these 20 years. Today we must live up to the myth that does not leave us, but as a father watches us from afar and watches us grow. Aware of Terence's legacy, we have a duty to commit ourselves even more and to carry it forward with the utmost dedication and responsibility. We owe it to the millions of Italians who watch the series and to Terence. "fidelity and love for Don Matteo and for all the viewers who have followed us in these 20 years. Today we must live up to the myth that does not leave us, but as a father watches us from afar and watches us grow. Aware of Terence's legacy, we have a duty to commit ourselves even more and to carry it forward with the utmost dedication and responsibility. We owe it to the millions of Italians who watch the series and to Terence. "We owe it to the millions of Italians who watch the series and to Terence. "We owe it to the millions of Italians who watch the series and to Terence. "
Don Massimo will enter the scene: "I chose the name - adds Raoul Bova - and we had the blessing of Terence". In fact, Hill had said more when choosing Bova, who was "the only one who could replace him". In the series "there is no mention of a replacement, but of a story that continues: Terence's character chooses Don Massimo (" who will not wear the cassock ") because he thinks he has the requisites to carry on his way of understanding life and speaking with people ", explains Bova. The actor has been "on the set for several days to breathe" the air of the series, we did costume and make-up rehearsals and readings, tomorrow is the first take and it's like it's the first time. For me it's like the 4x100 relay.This witness is about to arrive at great speed and I hope to give my best to win ". His character, Luca Bernabei confirms to ANSA," has a particular story behind him, he takes his votes late. And in his first assignment in a parish, he embraced the faith with a Franciscan spirituality. "Bova had the opportunity, years ago, to interpret St. Francis himself. Don Matteo, told in one of the latest interviews with ANSA on the occasion of the twelfth season. Hill, "is kind of like the gunslinger Trinity. He has no past, he has no relatives ". The creator of the series, Enrico Oldoini, at his debut" had suggested that he use the bicycle because it would have been more human, initially he had thought of a motorcycle. Oldoini was right,given the longevity of the fiction and the love of the public ". Strange life, Don Massimo will not ride a bike, he will choose a faster two-wheeler. A bit like the cassock, which will not be used by Bova. While Hill has always used the same twenty years old and now worn out. The one you saw in Don Matteo 12 is, in fact, the same as in the previous eleven seasons: "I never wanted to change it. A few years ago - he said -, after several insistence, I agreed to have a new one done, I also went to have my measurements taken. Then, when they handed it to me, I hung it up in the dressing room and it stayed there. "The twelfth season of Don Matteo, with Terence Hill and Nino Frassica, closed, delivering 7,300,000 viewers to Rai1 and 26.4% share.However, Lux's journey continues with Terence Hill: "Next year - explains Bernabei - we will make two films together, one for Christmas and a western".