Paolo Villaggio died. The Genoese actor died in Rome, where he had been hospitalized for a few days at the Gemelli Polyclinic, at the age of 84.
Entered popular culture with the character of the accountant Ugo Fantozzi, he had also acted with directors of the caliber of Federico Fellini ("The voice of the Moon", 1990), Ermanno Olmi ("The Secret of the Old Wood", 1993) and Mario Monicelli ( "Brancaleone to the Crusades", 1970).
During his long career he has also obtained prestigious awards, from the David di Donatello as best leading actor for Fellini's film to the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (1992), from the Silver Ribbon for The Secret of the Old Wood to the Pardo d honor in Locarno (2000).
His comic activity was echoed by that of a writer: Villaggio wrote around thirty books in all, eight of which on Fantozzi alone.
Also worth mentioning is his friendship with his fellow citizen Fabrizio De André, dating back to the years when they were kids, and who produced two memorable songs such as "Il slacker" and "Carlo Martello returns from the battle of Poitiers", songs of which Villaggio wrote the text.
But his image will remain in the history of Italian culture mainly for one figure, that of the accountant par excellence. “Now it would be in its natural habitat, today the Italians are all Fantozzi – said Villaggio in 2015 – They are all resigned to waiting up to forty years without finding work, they are almost all resigned to the politicians we have. With unheard-of violence they talk about thieving politicians but no one has the courage to say now we'll all kick them out together. The Italian is a fake intellectual who, when he is with the other fake intellectuals, talks about politics for six minutes using concepts that have already been tested and studied by heart, then someone suddenly asks: 'What about Totti?'. And from that moment we only talk about football and Totti because Italians love football and they are all coaches, but no one knows how to govern our country".
