Carolina Castagna: “When I saw Father Alberto in the hospital without a mustache, it was a shock. He was delightful to an embarrassing level.”

“I would like to know what my father thinks, whether he likes my husband, tell him about the trip, talk to him about politics. I had an affair with a Lazio fan. Dad was an avid Roma fan. Recall that on the pages of Corriere della Sera Carolina Castagna, 31 years old, doctor, the only daughter of Alberto Castagna. journalist and very popular TV presenter of the Stranamore program, who died in 2005 at the age of 59 due to internal bleeding. In July 1998, he was struck by a double dissecting aortic aneurysm and was hospitalized for eight months at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, the same hospital where Carolina now specializes in hygiene and preventive medicine.

Castagna’s daughter was 6 when her father fell ill and 13 when he died. To those who ask her who her father was, she replies:

“A book would not be enough to explain it. Very difficult. Affectionate and real, but also very young, afraid to be a parent. Sometimes between the two of us, I was an adult. He was already sick, the doctors gave him a list of foods that he should not eat. For example, peaches, which contain a lot of potassium, changed the balance of electrolytes, and this became a problem. I caught him in the kitchen secretly eating them. Or he would lock himself in the bathroom to smoke and spray patchouli in the air before going out. If I scolded him, he sighed: “I don’t have a daughter, but a teacher.” I’ve always been a fanatic in the family, obsessed with rules. Mom (dermatologist Pucci Romano) hid it. They have already been separated. As a couple they were a terrible couple, as friends and parents they were just fantastic. They exchanged cutlet recipes: “But mine is better.”

“Very good, to the point of embarrassment,” Karolina says of her father, explaining that her father gave her all of this. “I asked him to buy me 50,000 lire Goleador sweets in three flavors: cola, fruit and liquorice. The tobacco shop thought we were crazy… He spoiled me, he taught me ease. I try to be like him,” he said. speaks. And yet “no” said it:

“When I was 12, I wanted to go to England for three weeks to study English. Mom agreed, he didn’t. “You are too small.” The only time we argued. He was afraid the boys were there. He was very jealous. “Promise you’ll only get engaged when you’re 37.” Not a good sign.” Caroline laughs. She married an American a month ago. “He couldn’t get over the idea that I liked someone.”

Then a recollection of moments spent with friends:

Fabrizio Frizzi, Maurizio Costanzo and Maria De Filippi, Pippo Baudo. Dad had keyboards, he arranged endless karaoke nights with Uncle Pasquale. Everyone sang in unison, even Pippo and Maurizio. One evening Umberto Smaila came to play. They remained close to us after.”

Karolina remembers a sudden illness and the first time she saw her father in the hospital as a child.

“I was scared. First of all, because he no longer had a mustache, they cut it off, I never saw him like that. “Without a mustache, I look like an eggplant.” In any case, it was him. He was sleeping. Mom explained to me that we can’t go back every day (…) When I got home, I realized how fragile she was. He was very thin. Our angular embrace. I had to protect him. I was glad that he was with us again, but he already was not the same person. I became more anxious, less childish. Forced to grow up quickly. He pretended to be okay. “I’m the strongest man in the world.” I would rather he didn’t lie, didn’t show his weakness, but at certain moments everyone does everything he can.

Seven years later disappearance: “It was a Tuesday. He was fine until yesterday. We spent a day together, he bought me a CD of Beyoncé…”