Alberto Matano and Riccardo Mannino got married. Today the wedding

Alberto Matano and Riccardo Mannino celebrated their civil union after 15 years. In an interview given to Walter Veltroni for the Courier the conductor tells how the decision to get married came about: “During a dinner, a couple of months ago, Mara (Venier, ed.), theto our best friend, who will officiate today, said it would be nice for us to get married. Riccardo immediately said yes. He was euphoric.

I was happy too. Then over the weekend I went into crisis.” Something in him made him restless, preventing him from abandoning himself to the joy of a moment like that: “I thought about everything that surrounded us, the external dimension of something that concerned us so privately. In the evening, at home, we talked, we argued, we argued, we hugged and we decided that yes, it was the right thing to do. Today we will celebrate a love that deserves a formal dress".

Having found Riccardo is was very important in his life: “At first I had a heterosexual life, I was successful with girls. At 24 I broke off a love story. I understood that there was something else inside me, that I had to explore myself, understand myself. For ten years I was restless. I was looking for a sense of belonging – the host recalls – even exasperated. I thought it gave me security. On the other hand, a closed identity was too tight for me. A psychotherapist friend of mine once spoke to me about the psychosexual continuum as a point where each of us can find ourselves, which is never the same as that of another. Then Riccardo arrived and everything in my life stabilized. My stability was a person, not an identity.".

Coming out

In the interview Alberto Matano talks about various episodes of his life and his past: from the bullying he was a victim of at 14, to coming out to his parents which was an important moment in his life: “One evening I decided. I went home, turned off the television they were watching and told them I wanted to talk to them. That evening was the key to resolving my life. The turning point in my inner emotional life was precisely when I told them how things were. It wasn't easy for them, in the first few hours, to accept all this, I understand. Then from that moment on they were always at my side, always welcoming, supportive. Now Riccardo is experienced as a fourth son". Today two things make me really happy: Riccardo's look and the serene participation of my parents in this moment".