Andrea Bocelli Stars, under the Tuscan skies Celebrity Fight Night in Italy 2014 (di Giorgio De Martino)

I. From Andrea’s diary

September 7th 2014, at night Dear diary, I realize that I have neglected you very much, but if you only knew how many things I have had to do, and how many I should have told you. There would have not been the time. Suffice it to say that tonight has ended the week of events, organized thanks to more than a year of work, by the Foundation that bears my name. What has been done is now more or less in the public domain, but newspapers and TV do not know how many efforts, how many anxieties, how many doubts, how many never ending discussions, sleepless nights, how many holidays have been necessary to cultivate the hope of transforming the tears of many hopeless children, in smiles filled with renewed zest of life!!! In our wonderful country everything is difficult. In short I would say that it is difficult to do things, because to take a step, you have to overcome a thousand obstacles of legal and bureaucratic nature. You feel as if you were driving with the hand-brake on. But this is not the time to complain, it is rather the one of sharing with many people of good will, the joy of having accomplished a task that since the beginning has seemed to be something exceeding our poor efforts. Soon many unfortunate children, left to their sad fate, will have a school and above all a full tummy, a ball to play with, books to start dreaming of a future similar to the one of our children. They will be able to read and write and, therefore, will be able to defend their right to a peaceful life. Someone will say that it is a drop, a single drop of pure water in the ocean, but if everybody does something, drop after drop, it will be possible to purify this ocean and it will be beautiful, wonderful

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indeed, for everyone, as Mother Teresa used to say, be able to mirror ourselves in that deep blue sea!!! I am a bit tired, my dear diary, and in a few hours I am leaving for New Zealand, just an ordinary trip…, but the power of a good action is such that, may be, I will not even feel the fatigue of this upcoming adventure. I want also to entrust to your pages a few words concerning Veronica, the heroic companion of my life. I would have never thought her able to fight so hard a battle to win. Her perseverance, her willpower have really surprised me. Those little haggard faces, those eyes marked by pain, by the sight of so many tragedies, their little bodies weakened by hunger and thirst of love must have deeply impressed her, when with my son Amos she went to Haiti; only this way you can explain so much zeal and so much sacrifice in a young mother. I know that Goodness produces other Goodness, and I know therefore that the hours she has subtracted to her little Virginia, to me, and to the rest of the family will bring her joy and great satisfaction. Well done Veronica! Well done you all! You who have walked together, starting from the President of ABF Laura Biancalani, and going on with Alberto, my brother, who has always cared about the thousand problems I leave him to solve, and then all those who have been working since day one and who are too many to be mentioned one by one.

I want to thank also my two sons Amos and Matteo, who have supported, encouraged, and often accepted the void caused by too many engagements. If I told that in a short while I am going to rest in Australia, I think nobody would ever believe me, perfectly knowing that I will have to face days of flight and concerts across the world, and instead I think of it as a time of rest. Now I have to try to sleep a couple of hours, but I will be back to you, dear diary, as soon as I can. .

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Andrea Bocelli

II. No place is far

The pearl is a gift of nature that suggests pure beauty, completeness, love. Yet such a miracle of creation is the result of an injury: when a substance penetrates the oyster from outside, the latter to protect the most vulnerable parts of its body, transforms it into a shining and precious object. We too we can be involved in a similar alchemy: transform the scars in wonderful objects; even our life and its apparent jumble of contradictions can regenerate itself, producing (or better, testifying) the perfection of Good. How? A Zen proverb says: Start now, from where you are. Use what you have. Do the best you can.

Haiti was one of the pearls of the Caribbean. Today it is a melting pot producing both tragedies and great hopes, a place where the earthquake seems to have cancelled all that is three-dimensional. It is a betrayed Paradise where the average age is sixteen, because children are everywhere and die of everything. Those who land here, will leave desperately sick: sick of love, exhilarating, painful love. An overwhelming love, as it was once in literature, where what matters is its intensity, where a handshake is a promise, and a smile is like a passionate kiss. Father Rick works here, a doctor who says the Holy Mass, a priest who takes care of the sick, a visionary giant who sees with the eyes of tomorrow, and thinks of Haiti with flowers on its balconies and taps in the houses, and schools and a future for all children. He started giving shelter to a dozen orphans, a quarter of a century ago. Today, cooperating with the Foundations that support his projects, he helps ten thousand of them. ABF is there. The Andrea Bocelli Foundation in Haiti feels at home, because here we receive the gift of being useful, because pain is a great teacher, because here we have the privilege of seeing

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God in the smiles of children, because here lives the mystery of happiness, that means have an impact on the others’ life. Thanks to the story we are going to tell you (undoubtedly a story of love), the Foundation will bring water, light, agricultural development and a roof to the families most in need of – Abricot, Croix de Bouquet e Kenskoff – some of the most remote places on the island. Phoenix, Arizona. Lonnie is next to him. Undefeated, the hero continues to fight. The universal icon of courage and of civil engagement, Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay, the irreducible athlete, the man who has been able to show people his strong opposition to war and violence, today is still on the ring: he is facing his battle against Parkinson’ Disease. This titan is fighting alone, while Lonnie holds him by the hand. He keeps on fighting, but he knows that there is a multiethnic army, from all walks of life, belonging to at least three generations, that is rooting for him. Muhammad, who is still writing the riveting novel of his own adventure in this world, has certainly understood that life does not follow the logic of a pen joining two points on a sheet of paper: birth here, death there. A pen running on the time sheet, and each of us has its own section, which is measured in length. He knows that the secret is the intensity that the hand imprints on the sheet, that hand of each of us that guides the pen, that hand that is not made of flesh but of heart, soul, and that can, therefore, be healthy or ill, be it or not undermined by a disability of the body that contains it. Thanks to Muhammad, at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, there is a center of excellence, among the most advanced, dedicated to the treatment of the Parkinson’s disease. Thanks to the support of Celebrity Fight Night and of its inventor, Jimmy Walker (who is a champion too, having been fighting and winning indifference, looking for increasingly ambitious goals), the “Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center – Movement Disorder Clinic” offers practical help to those who are suffering and cannot afford medicines and cures, and to their families.

Chiavari, in the province of Genoa. It is September 3rd 2014. The little village overlooking the Liguria Sea offers a benefit concert at

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its theater: the proceeds will support the project to give a shelter to the homeless. Among the interpreters who will get on stage, also the young pianist Amos Bocelli, Andrea’s eldest son. In the meantime, the countdown of the most ambitious charity event ever carried out in Italy is getting closer and closer. All the American staff of Celebrity Fight Night are already in Tuscany, along with the ABF volunteers’ team. At the Bocelli’s house, on the sea front of Forte dei Marmi, right now, there are over a hundred people who are working on every detail (making a mess of every room). Nevertheless, Andrea wanted to be next to his son, accompanying him in one of his first engaging trips. In two days time, on the stage arranged in the garden, Andrea will have to sing and do the honors to one hundred and fifty guests selected among the most the most influent people in the world. In four days time, he will be singing in one of the Italian locations for which Italy is in everybody’s dream: the Salone dei Cinquecento of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, conducted by the most famous living baton, from a podium that has already written history, maestro Zubin Mehta. In the next one hundred hours the machine of this imposing charity marathon will mark his time, with a tight agenda full of obligations and commitments, always in the spotlight. And yet Andrea is here, in the festive shuffle of a provincial audience, who did not expect to receive the gift of such a celebrity.

He has not even had the time to dine; he accepts to get on stage and sing a Romanza out of the program, accompanied at the piano by Amos. While talking to the public, he shares his concern, because “Who goes around big cities like me and meets, for example, in New York people sleeping in the streets in January or February, cannot, afterwards, enter a luxury five star hotel with a peaceful mind ” Then he reminds the importance of the charitable cause of the evening, and the urge to leave our children a better world. Because “Life is a like a great banquet where we are all well if there is a bare minimum for everyone. But if there is someone who is not well, the banquet will fail”.

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Haiti, United States Italy…No place is far away. Humanity is a pearl necklace that encircles the world: if one falls, it means that the thread has collapsed and the whole necklace is involved, and runs the risk to get lost. When a vase gets broken, according to a sweet oriental tradition the vase is to be repaired, not concealing, not disguising the crack but vice versa enhancing it: where there is a crack they fill it with molten gold, marking the fracture and therefore the restoration of the object, thus enhancing the experience. It is a technique that, when applied to humanity, might be called “love”: understand the preciousness and enhance the beauty of those who have suffered. Life is fracture and reconstruction, and every time leaves you changed. This magazine is not about sorrow, pain and poverty. There are images of celebrations, of the glories of exclusive places and famous people. This magazine is a sparkling bouquet of flowers, and those who have taken part in this event (or also those who are engaging their time and emotions, to read it) are petals of this flower composition, and contribute to its perfection. But it is the vessel that contains them, with its noble reassembled scars and cracks, that makes the flowers shine, that nourishes them and that enhances their colors.

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III. “Sliding doors”

An elevator that is about to go up. Jimmy walker is there, behind the sliding doors of the cabin while they are closing. Andrea and Veronica go up and down in the hotel overlooking Central Park as if it were their second house: the top floor is their personal haven in New York, a muffled space - where to rest and study – which seems to be on the peak of a forest and is instead in the heart or better, in the navel of the world. The elevator is going to go up, behind it there is Jimmy. Andrea does not remember a handshake, but his hand that chooses to slip, at its own risk, between the doors and thus stops their closing in extremis. He enters, a sudden and unexpected colleague during the rise. Taking advantage of the forced intimacy, he does not waste time despite Andrea and Veronica’s expectations (at that point, very pessimistic) he does not want their wallets but he is asking for a confirmation of his suppositions, «You are Bocelli, aren’t you? ». After expressing his strongest admiration, he said he was a friend and a cooperator of Muhammad Ali. A few minutes later, after breaking the ice, they got aware of a happy circumstance that would have brought Andrea to Phoenix for a concert. Two days later, on the occasion of the birthday of Lonnie Ali, Bocelli and his wife along with Jimmy were able, unexpected guests, to wish her a happy birthday with music, in front of the astonished faces of her husband and family. For Andrea, meet Muhammad was a dream come true: Ali has been a myth, not only for him but for at least three generations… He is a

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universal icon of courage and of civil engagement; he is a man who has been able to make people feel his strong opposition to war and violence. When Bocelli had in front of him that irreducible athlete, that man exhausted, but not bowed by the disease, he remembers him breaking a silence that had lasted for days, asking him to sing (“sing for me”, he said) and with an enormous joy he could honor his request, dedicating him an Italian melody a cappella, with his voice breaking with emotion. On that occasion, Muhammad gave to his special Italian fan, two of his own boxing gloves autographed. The next day the arena of Phoenix was packed with spectators, for the concert of the most beloved tenor in the world. In the front row there was Muhammad, next to his wife and to Jimmy …Andrea came on stage wearing those gloves and paid homage to him, sharing with twenty thousand people the story of his recent, and touching meeting while, the final notes of the “Nessun dorma” were resounding: that verb - “vincerò” – repeated three times and closed on a very sharp note (a Si naturale), able to tell at all latitudes of a state of mind characterized by a burning passion and by inexhaustible will power. Self sacrifice, generosity, solidarity. These are the winning instruments of Jimmy Walker, these are the values that have sustained the thousand philanthropic adventures (some of which with Bocelli, by his side). But when Bocelli has to tell about their friendship he always chooses the image of a hand, that of the founder of CFN who forces the hand of fate and opens the doors, already almost closed, of the elevator giving him the possibility to meet Muhammad Ali and creating a virtuous circle that has led to the philanthropic event of September 2014. We wish everybody to be able to stumble, along their way, upon such an unexpected companion, while going up in an elevator. And when, at the hotel, the elevator sliding doors will close, Andrea’s advice is: make sure that inside the cabin (and inside you) there is always space for an unexpected meeting, for a new comer.

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IV. From Arizona to Florence

For over a decade Andrea Bocelli has contributed to the events of Celebrity Fight Night: a worthy Institution that supports mainly Muhammad Ali’s battle for the research on Parkinson’s disease, and that for twenty years has combined mind-boggling parterre and great artists, in the name of solidarity. It is an Institution that has already raised funds for approximately one hundred million dollars! The Bocelli family has repeatedly opened the doors of their Tuscan house to this enlightened group of great donors, giving the possibility to auction special evenings to share in their house in Forte dei Marmi. Andrea remembers with gratitude how the last of these dinners has reached the mind-boggling amount of one million four hundred thousand dollars!

In 2013, in the presence of the same Muhammad Ali, Andrea sang for CFN in Phoenix, performing an exceptional duet with a sensual and talented Jennifer Lopez. On that occasion Veronica and Andrea along with the President of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation Laura Biancalani and Jimmy Walker were the co-stars of an idea: one of those insights that do not have, a specific authorship, but which sometimes arise, miraculously, from the strength and harmony of a plural conversation among people, if they are sufficiently visionary and courageous. This is how the Italian Celebrity Fight Night was born. Andrea and Veronica have then contacted, in the following months, those among their friends who they knew were more sensitive to

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the topic of solidarity. And the response was extraordinarily quick, as well as immediate and generous was their willingness to support the cause... A further evidence of how the more important the people from the world of fashion and entertainment are, the more they are genuine and friendly people. For instance George Clooney, who, to an official letter has personally answered with a simple message: «Ok, I will be with you». The first Italian edition of Celebrity Fight Night was attended by over one hundred major American donors who have come to Tuscany on a special flight. The stay was punctuated by a series of initiatives to introduce them to the best of art, culture, and entertainment thanks to friends of Andrea’s such as the Cavalli and Ferragamo families the Maison Ricci, Pucci, Scervino, the Officine Panerai, Maserati … Florence has been the heart of the event. The place where was also held the CFN closing Gala on September 7th 2014. It has been a marathon full of smiles, culture, fashion, food and great music. A journey that thanks to the funds raised, has lit many other smiles on the other side of the world. America hungers for Italian culture. The creative strength of the peninsula overlooking the Mediterranean, when positive and bright, can make the whole world dream. Those who visit it, enjoy the magic atmosphere you can breathe there, and what it evokes: common sense and healthy food, art, the art of friendship and of hospitality. In Tuscany, in addition to the warmth of the last summer weeks, and to the approaching of the grape harvest, the month of September has had in store for us a complex – and unusual at these latitudes – solidarity event. A bet that we have won in the land where Bocelli was born and raised, and where he feels he has to go back to, because it is the place that holds the values that have, inevitably, shaped his life and that he, fatally, conveys through his singing.

The cradle of art and of Opera, mother of the Italian language, for many centuries Tuscany (and its provincial capital Florence) has educated us to beauty and harmony….It is therefore, the ideal place where to think of what is unthinkable, and then turn it into reality. So in the heart of Renaissance, has been added a new piece to that

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“Renaissance of the heart” promoted and documented by Celebrity Fight Night.

V. One hundred hours in Italy - First Day

On entering, you get out of time: an enrapturing sensation, here in Tuscany, where past and present seldom express a conflict. The “new Athens” dreamed by Lorenzo il Magnifico welcomes the guests in this warm early September day. From the JFK International Airport, to the airport in Pisa, flying to the leaning Tower. Then the party loses its wings and reaches Florence thanks to a small army of dark cars. And it will be fatal, in the days to come, to make friends with those who drive them, constantly maneuvering these minivans among cobbled streets and tourists along the historic center of Florence.

2:30pm. A welcome cocktail reassembles the ranks. The “Four Seasons” one of the locations where the donors will stay, has half a millennium story to tell. It does it silently, letting the frescoes, the friezes and bas-reliefs speak of it. These are stories of families that have made Florence, from the Medici to the Della Gherardesca, names that have given substance to the concept of Renaissance, and grown artists who since then have never stopped enchanting the world.

The structure, in the second ‘800, has lived an exotic parenthesis, becoming property of Ismail Pashà, Viceroy of Egypt, he who commissioned Aida to Giuseppe Verdi, for the opening of the Suez Canal. The staff of the two foundations is already totally present. There are also the young people of Haiti, Roseline, Jaebets and two other fantastic travel companions who will follow the entire benefit trip:

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they are the representatives of the St. Luc Foundation, partner of ABF, in the poorest country in the Americas: they are all the beloved “children” of Father Rick, the priest who is devoting every day of his life to rebuild the Caribbean Pearl. In this green paradise of Florence, after many months of preparation, a thousand overseas calls, and correspondence, after sleepless nights, insurmountable problems and euphoric solutions, now the countdown runs out and starts the adventure. And under the eyes of the whole world, starts one of the most ambitious charity projects ever conceived. The welcome (by Maison Scervino and Officine Panerai) takes place along a large portion of the park, five acres which include the historical building and the annexed “Conventino” of the 16th century. Here past and present transform the air into a transparent wing: the stage of the garden resounds with the harmonies of a young string trio playing Boccherini and Vivaldi, but there are also the sculptures of an exhibition (titled “Dialogue”, not by chance) where classical issues and post modern reinterpretations are juxtaposed between white stone paths, meadows and hedges, cream sun umbrellas and ample seating cushions shaped by wrought iron.

Here they are, finally. A smile is the common denominator. And then comes the friendliness of the first handshakes, of the first jokes, of the first amiable conversations (with Veronica and Laura Biancalani to do the honors for ABF, and Jimmy Walker e Sean Currie, for CFN, with the many assistants and volunteers present). The hundred guests have just crossed the ocean, but they have left fatigue inside their suitcases: a contagious friendliness prevails, and we might say they are in a good mood. But if you investigate further it is much more than that: it is the door of one’s own interior home left open to welcome what comes from outside, it is joy(together with respect) for every gift that life can give at any time, it is bright proactivity (the one that has made America great), it is the willingness to receive and listen, it is a medicine made of smiles and, why not? when possible, of laughter. And last, but not least it is the desire, the will to give help where it is necessary.

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Andrea, from some screens located on the edge of the green space, is talking of the ABF mission, in Haiti, and of all that can be done together. He reminds that “The amazing lives we have been gifted, offer us the privilege, to build a better world than the one we found and to give back the good we have been given” Wishing also for those who are less fortunate or weaker, ”the possibility of a life full of opportunities and beauty”. This virtuous circle, this assumption: that happiness is to have an impact on the life of the others has been perceived by the hundred friends of Celebrity Fight Night and of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation to such an extent, that they express and exemplify it, by living. They too, like two thousand years ago said the Emperor Adriano (in the words of the novel by Marguerite Yourcenar), are “responsible for the beauty of the world “…And beauty contributes to modify it, to make of it a better place.

5:30pm.The scenery changes, but the sensation remains the same: empathy, willingness to learn, to make fun, to be useful, relax (just as when you finally loosen your tie), despite the city and the whole country, full of feverish curiosity, photos and busy journalists. The guests cross the threshold of the medieval Palazzo Spini Feroni. To welcome them Giovanna and Leonardo Ferragamo, the direct descendants of the “shoemaker to the stars”, that visionary genius designer and craftsman who starting from a small village in the south of Italy, came to revolutionize the world of footwear in the United States and around the world, making of it an object of art and of incomparable design. At first the magnificence of the Family Museum, at the ground floor of the building with its seven rooms that speak of the triumph of the Made in Italy and of a galaxy of Hollywood stars who have worn Ferragamo creations, from Marilyn Monroe to Greta Garbo, from Audrey Hepburn to Sofia Loren (and the latter, a living legend, will be tomorrow night the special guest at Bocelli’s home). Then the elegant welcome by the new Ferragamo generations, on the first floor, and also by Veronica and Andrea (who have, meanwhile, joined the company)… All sharing the sensation of being “at home”, charmed by the owners’ friendliness and by their warm welcome.

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7:30 pm It is one of the oldest theaters in Europe. It is a flaming example of “Italian” structure”, the “Pergola” is the heart of the first evening. Many, among the greatest, have been here: even Giuseppe Verdi, conceived for this architectural gem one of his most complex operas, Macbeth, a Shakespearian drama which in the lyric version of Verdi deals (with astonishing modernity) with issues like responsibility and conscience of human actions. This evening is signed Stefano Ricci, a most exclusive and refined haute couture Italian brand, whose designs, elegance and attention to detail, make his creations an object of cult around the world. There is Stefano Ricci himself, the tutelary deity, charismatic and powerful in voice and appearance. There are also his two sons, Niccolò e Filippo. The theater is sparkling with gilded stuccos: it has momentarily lost its seats in the stalls to become a Court of the fifteenth century. It is an immersion in the splendor of Renaissance that leaves you with no breathing, because of the perfume, colors and sounds put into play: from the concert with ancient instruments, to the historical parade, from the weavers to the exceptional exhibition of the flag wavers, to the - fully functional - warping designed by none other than Leonardo da Vinci. In an atmosphere of indescribable beauty, Renaissance costumed waiters pour a welcome champagne, in the midst of the sunny yellow of gold, and the warm red of the carpets, among the scent of wood of the ancient weaving instruments and the flags swinging in the air, among shining armors and precious brocades on display. Banners on display, fanfares, drum rolls. Then in the shadow of Florence red lily, the official greetings: words of Sean, Jimmy, Andrea, Laura and Stefano Ricci. The satisfaction of all, the blessing on the trip just started, on a show that in the United States has become of age, and that here is being born, under our eyes.

Finally there is a further surprise: the ancient sumptuously painted curtain opens showing the stage turned into a carousel of dinner tables laid with ample references to the ancient Florentine elegance.

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Dinner – the first CFN gala dinner in Italy – involving great American donors but also the noblest families of Florence (and also other guests of the families Ricci and Bocelli, from all over the world), is marked, by court Renaissance dances and again by flags dancing in the air of this temple of beauty and music. Among the many faces, already familiar, the one of Reba McEntire, the Queen of Country music, who is showing a contagious euphoria. The audience is utterly enraptured and the guests – despite the long flight and the jet lag– do not seem to be willing to go to sleep. In fact they linger more than expected and everybody is delighted with it.

VI One hundred hours in Italy – Second day

A fantastic gift of nature, a silkworm that works inside its cocoon and produces the wonder of a miraculous thread), silk is a noble fiber par excellence. Smooth, shiny, is a feast for the senses and it is the noblest raw material for the textile art, such as the white marble of the Alps of Tuscany was, for Michelangelo the genius of sculpture. The art of silk in Italy is less than a thousand years old. From China it takes root in Tuscany in the fourteenth century and then lives its golden age at the time of the Medici when it brought wealth to many Florentine families. Around the middle of the eighteenth century, from the cooperation of some of these noble families (including the Pucci, the Della Gherardesca as well as the princes Corsini, who, just at that time, had for tenants in one of their properties, the ancestors of Andrea Bocelli), was born a large laboratory where tools were shared, from the cardboards and drawings of the fabrics to the looms. The company in 1786 finds its permanent location where even today the workshop produces some of the finest fabrics in the world using original equipment and procedures handed down through the centuries…Fabrics whose Renaissance designs can be attributed

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also to frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino, Pontormo e Piero della Francesca. The Antico Setificio Fiorentino, which was acquired in 2010 by the Ricci family, is overseen by Elisabetta Bardelli, Niccolò Ricci’s wife: a precious friend for the entire CFN project, who has lavished her passion, energy, commitment and enthusiasm. A further immersion in beauty and history, for the benefit trip, on the opening of the second day of Celebrity Fight Night.

11:00am. The snaps of the mechanical gears, each with their own scans and cadences, at first appears to produce rhythms which are lame and impracticable. Nevertheless, beyond the wrought iron gate and the private court that leads to the laboratory, everything becomes, unquestionably, music. A stunning sense of synesthesia is enjoyed through the rainbow of precious colors that from seed (threads of weft and warp) change into spectacular flowers and arabesques (the magnificent drawings preserved in the historical archives of the company. Without disturbing Kandinskij or Skrjabin, it is a concert of colors, a symphony of (ancient and perfect) nuances that is proposed, leaving the people totally surprised: a forge of automatisms from the eighteenth, nineteenth century that thanks to the kaleidoscope of treasures produced, turns the noise of a factory in musical harmony. Machines that seem either a surreal harp, or fancy chimes, each of them has its task, its alchemy: and the results are brocades, ermisini, damasks, lampas, but also the typical rustic Tuscan thread, which is obtained from the cocoons pierced by the butterflies while coming out. For over an hour, the industrious workshop continues in the delicate balance among the needs of a daily work and the willingness to explain, to show, to let the foreign guests themselves try. The guests ask, catch glimpses through their mobiles and cameras, filled with so many colors, listen to the workers who guide them into the secrets of their individual positions, and try themselves to operate the machines and then laugh at their legitimate awkwardness. All around, wooden levers, like the pedals of an organ, colorful rugs of vertical threads apparently

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unmatchable (but ready to mingle), hand-forged metal linkages, swirling gears, sailor ropes that pull tools and mechanical hands flying from one side to the other of the warp. The looks run, with love, through this intimate “silk road” to walk through on foot, between the friendly simplicity of the workers and the production deriving from their craft Proud of what they do, proud of their ancient craft, they lose their initial reluctance and engage with visitors an atmosphere of mutual respect of loving empathy. “Empathy” a word that returns these days in Italy.

4:00pm Not only rolling hills, green waves, enlivened by cypress trees, vineyards, wheat fields, olive groves, and old farm houses. Not only art towns, that preserve medieval and renaissance splendors. Tuscany is also the sea. It is an immense golden beach of very fine sand, a scenery evoking holidays and the pleasures of life, among the turquoise sea, the scent of pine trees and the mountainous backdrop of the Apuan Alps. Forte dei Marmi – the destination of the second part of the CFN day – is the most glamorous coast of the peninsula, an exclusive and cozy place, among tree-lined avenues, gardens and pine forests. Sweetly nostalgic in wintertime, euphoric and pleasure-loving in summer, it leaps right into the sea with its famous pier, an outstretched arm that holds out its hand to the Mediterranean for more than three hundred meters, offering a view of the coast, but also looking up, of the peaks capped with marble snow. A Paradise for shoppers, an international élite tourist destination, here the “Dolce Vita” has never faded away. Our one hundred donors scatter along the streets of the city, under the sun of the dazzling showcases, passing in front of the Fortino that gives its name to the place: the eighteenth-century coastal fortress that seems to express the pride of having been in the eyes and in the hearts of poets like Eugenio Montale and Giuseppe Ungaretti, of singers like Edith Piaf and Ray Charles, of industrials like the Agnelli and the Barilla. And of course of Giacomo Puccini who loved to walk and sit at the tables of the cafés of the Tuscan Riviera.

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6:30pm. A crowd of on-lookers almost blocks the passage of cyclists and pedestrians, on the pavement close to the beach of the “Grand Hotel Imperiale”, the famous “Minerva Beach”, a place loved by artists and writers. Back from shopping and after a short rest at the hotels where they are staying, the guests reach the beach club helped by the local police. They parade all dressed in white, the dress-code of the evening, along the walkway that leads to the beach (inaccessible to the press, safe for a limited number of photographers and cameramen). A rich aperitif and live music will enliven the evening in this sea-front that reflects a grandeur that time, in the face of such beauty, has never waned. The furnishings and linen that surround the sand offer a fascinating colonial côté, under a sky troubled by white clouds, but in fact mild.

7.30pm. At Andrea’s home the sea is a roommate: its presence is perceivable, a few meters away from the windows, in the sound of its changing moods, in the scent of salt that fills the air, mixing with the warm fragrance of the pine trees and the aromatic palette of the Mediterranean Maquis.

Around the villa, there is already a multitude of onlookers all around the outside walls and the two entrance gates, while at the end of the evening it will be difficult even to make room to get to the minivans. The access roads are partially cordoned, there are dozens of photographers, journalists and cameramen. It will be a memorable party, with music and a parterre of exceptional guests, among stars of music and entertainment, princes, prestigious names of international business and finance. Sofia Loren will be the Godmother, a living legend, a superb ambassador of Italy in the world, who will be celebrated here tonight a few hours before she turns eighty, and who will be awarded the Andrea Bocelli Humanitarian Award, as a sign of admiration and gratitude. For her also a jewel of Damiani: a special gift for a special birthday from a historic brand of high jewelry. Damiani who has supported the drink on the beach and that has been particularly sensitive and

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close to the project of the Italian Celebrity Fight Night: one of the first big names of Made in Italy to believe in the project and to encourage its realization.

The guests cross the threshold of the house and with emotion discover the more intimate spaces, the many pianos, the evidence of his triumphs, the pictures, the places for study and for leisure. And they all reach a unanimous conclusion: Andrea’s house looks like him. At first it was the house of a famous politician, in the postwar period, then it has been extended and converted into a hotel, destination maintained until the end of the 90s. Andrea chose it as his residence in 2003. Having the good fortune to have a brother, Alberto Bocelli, who besides overseeing the family winery, is also a very good architect, who was involved in the complex work of restoration which lasted more than one year. The result is a spacious house designed in accordance with the priority of living and hospitality. Elegant, but not pretentious. On the ground floor, living rooms, dining room, kitchen and service rooms, on the middle floor there are reception rooms and study rooms: bedrooms and more “private” rooms are on the top floor, with precious views both on the sea and on the slopes of the Apuan Alps. In the decades when the house was used as a hotel many artists chose it for their stays. And like a violin absorbs through the ribs of its wood the artistic temperament of the person who has played it, holding back almost an expressive legacy, the same way the Bocelli’s home undoubtedly keeps a track, a sign, of those who have inhabited it and its walls ooze music and poetry. Thanks to its favorable position, but also to the good taste of Veronica who has carefully chosen all the furnishings, today this big, warm, and cozy house looks very much like its owner, shaped on the needs of the most beloved tenor in the world.

8.30pm. His profession imposes him a gypsy life. Yet he has a homely character: as he loves to repeat, his best holidays are the ones he spends at home, surrounded by the affection of his family and of his dearest friends, with whom he shares “the best restaurant in the world” that is to say home cooking made by

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Mariella and Piero, who are responsible for the home supplies. Andrea travels for many months a year around the world, but what he loves most, on the contrary, is to have the world at home. Just like this evening. A bit less than three hundred people liven up the Bocelli house and the park adjoined, where has been fitted a large marquee that can accommodate the dinner table and the stage. It is difficult to find the words for the cheerfulness, the enthusiasm that has infected everybody there in a crescendo that has made the event in Forte dei Marmi unforgettable: a privilege to be able to share such a magic evening, with people who have made the story (of music, cinema, fashion, finance, and world politics). A celebration for the heart, for the senses, accompanied by superb food, and by a selection of wines among the most famous in Italy, (including, of course, a selection of Bocelli wines) as well as by a parade of stars on stage. A unique jam session, involving Lionel Richie, John Legend, David Foster, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Dunn. And of course Andrea who duets with his friends and arouses dreams. Lionel is unleashed on stage: He tells of his encounter with Muhammad Ali, he moves and makes you smile. In the end through his singing, he inflames the guests to the point that they start dancing through the tables and invade the stage. Lionel who, through the powerful weapons of talent and generosity, has deeply influenced the world of music and the world of solidarity (starting from being the author of the famous “We are the world”) will be awarded the famous Humanitarian award at the CFN closing Gala. The same award will also be given – during the evening under the stars, in Forte dei Marmi – to David Foster, who has been for a long time a dear friend of the Bocelli family, he is a philanthropist, a musician, a producer, who has been awarded so far around twenty Grammies. David who has been for a long time a supporter of Celebrity Fight Night, has periodically lived at the Bocelli’s…The last time was on the occasion of the album “Passione”, which was recorded at the recording studio of the villa, sharing the intimacy of home and the family rhythms. When he was asked to speak of Andrea he defined

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him as the “Renaissance man par excellence” «Much more than a great singer – tells David –, Bocelli is an artist who plays the flute, trumpet, piano, drums, who knows the pop repertoire, classical music, opera. But also history, law, philosophy… That is why for me he is the most striking example of “Renaissance man”. In addition to all this he also goes windsurfing, riding, swimming, running…He is the most amazing person I have ever known. And he is my favorite voice!». Late at night, close to the marquee, a final unexpected surprise: a white winged horse that breaks in inside the park of the villa. And then the applauses also beyond the walls of the park, for the pop exhibitions of Andrea and of his friends (Andrea who goes out of the gate and greets, and thanks, and shakes the hands of his fans).

This evening of Celebrity Fight Night spent at the Bocelli’s will remain as a wonderful memory that the guests will keep inside their heart and of which they will speak in the years to come… In addition to the splendor of the duets and of the performances, besides the exceptional hospitality of the hosts, the image that comes to mind while the guests are leaving on board the minivans heading for Florence, is that of Donna Sofia and of little Virginia. While sitting at the table Andrea and Veronica’s daughter has made friends with the great actress, who, showing a great kindness, has let her play with her handbag. Things like a mirror and a lipstick have become Virginia’s favorite toys, who, thanks to the blissful innocence of her young age has continued to delve into Mrs. Loren clutch. It has been something extremely touching, to verify on this occasion, the extraordinary humanity – as a woman and as a mother – of this great person, who though, surrounded by attention and honors, has gone on playing, totally enraptured, with her little friend…

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VII One hundred hours in Italy – Third day That of the Frescobaldi is one of the Families that has most influenced the political, economical and social history of Florence. Suffice it to recall the friendship among the noble Tuscan family and people of the stature of Dante Alighieri and Boccaccio, or like the Frescobaldi (since the fourteenth century engaged in wine production) have dealt directly with Michelangelo Buonarroti performing with the legendary artist a barter “in kind” works of art for wine. On the third day of Celebrity Fight Night, the colorful palette is enriched with new colors. First, a trip through the hills of Valdisieve, hosted by the marquis Lamberto de’ Frescobaldi and by his wife Elenora who personally give a warm welcome to the group of donors in the family castle of Nipozzano, a fortress built more than a thousand years ago, to defend the town of Florence. In the late afternoon another immersion in high fashion, with a cocktail at Palazzo Pucci, the headquarters of the historic Florentine fashion house that has dressed people like Principess Grace of Monaco, Jacqueline Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe. Finally one of the Italian families of fashion designers among the most famous in the world, Eva and Roberto Cavalli open the doors of their house to Celebrity Fight Night for an exclusive dinner.

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11:00 am. Even the sky seems to help the trip offering a bright and cloudless morning. A few kilometers, and the landscape becomes the one you find on post cards, of the pictures that make you dream: of rolling hills that follow one another like a sensual soft waltz to dance embraced, and vineyards, and olive groves, cypress trees as straight as soldiers, and aromatic hedges, fortresses, farms, millenary chapels. We are in the cradle of the most famous Italian wine. You can already perceive the show that– usually in autumn – is offered by the most exciting chromatic fantasies due to the habit of planting different kinds of grapes in the same vineyard. The fortress dominates the confluence of the Arno and Sieve; a historically strategic site, because located in an Etruscan great line of communication. We are in the middle of Chianti Rufina, twenty miles north east of Florence. From the villa you can enjoy the sight of the wonderful hills cultivated in vineyards olive groves and wood. They are three hundred acres destined to the grapes Sangiovese, Cabernet, Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and other varieties. The secret of these excellent wines produced in this area – we are told – is the balance between the quality of the soil, rich in clay and limestone, and poor in organic substances, and a dry and windy climate. The ideal environment for the birth of the great “red wines” of Nipozzano.

The American group reaches the castle walking along the avenue of cypresses, where they are greeted with a glass of wine. The same wine that centuries ago was served on the tables of the English Court of Henry VIII and of the Papal Court. The guests then reach the forecourt, where they can enjoy a welcome cocktail and the show of the flag-wavers from Volterra. The sensation emerging from this show is capturing, as capturing is our hosts’ history. And come to our minds – an intimidating sensation – their distinguished relatives like the poet Dino Frescobaldi, a friend of Dante Alighieri, or the musician Gerolamo Frescobaldi, one of the most popular composers of Italian Baroque.

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Thanks to the ruby nectar, the company is particularly friendly and happily embarks on the visit to the historical wine cellars, before resting on top of the fortress, in the most panoramic spot, where lunch will be served, after a new performance of the flag-wavers. During the wine tour, the guides often evoke the vision of a family ancestor, who in the mid-nineteenth century invested one thousand silver florins to start cultivating varieties hitherto unknown in Tuscany: Cabernet, Sauvignon, the Merlot, the Franc Cabernet and the Petit Verdot. The cellars are located in the underground spaces on different levels. In the deepest one there is the family’s private cellar with perfectly intact bottles dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. On a little vault, carved in marble, there are the verses of one of Tibullus’s elegies, that two thousand years ago sang the praises of peace. Because peace makes agriculture thrive, rusting the “tristia arma duri militis” and making, vice versa shine the instruments for plowing and viticulture. ”…Pax aluit vites et sucos coondidit uvae funderet ut nato testa paterna merum…”. Among those taking part in this magic excursion, next to his wife Nancy, also Maestro Zubin Mehta, who tomorrow will conduct Andrea at the helm of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. In small groups we proceed along steep stairs, crumbling walls that take to rooms as neat as museums, caves protected by iron bars where lie very precious bottles. And here are the barrels, where are produced and aged in oak barriques, even for twenty four months, the red wines, including the famous “Mormoreto”)...Where one of the most fascinating alchemy ever takes place, looked after by the silence of the countryside. Those colorful flags flown in the sky by the flag-wavers look like a dream, and then the lunch, with vineyards peeping through the display of laces, and the royal welcome of the centuries-old family. That magic landscape that remains deep inside the heart like a dream, makes even more perceivable the astonishing beauty of creation. And our mind here, more easily, comes to understand how God has dressed every single blade of grass, how he has overseen every little detail.

6:30pm. Once left the castle, one more exciting emotion: a poetic tour around the Chianti, which not by chance is considered one of the most charming places in the world. Then back to Florence. Still

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inhabited by the descendants of the Pucci family, the Palace bearing the same name welcomes the guests for the cocktail closing the afternoon of this very long day. The large inner courtyard of the historical residence offers works of art of the famous haute couture Maison, there is also a wonderful example of nineteenth century carriage among green plants, palm trees, ivy climbing up the columns, marble busts and embossed flags on the walls. In the meanwhile platters full of delicacies and crystal cups are served around. The unmistakable signature of the hosts appears in the combinations of colors and in the patterns that illuminate and almost sculpt fabrics, dresses, foulards…inside the frescoed rooms, you can reach through the courtyard, there are lots of still mannequins inside lit crystal cases, dressed with the historical creations of Emilio Pucci. We are once more amazed by Florence that lives the depth of its history, also through the art of this further legend of fashion design.

8:00pm. Braziers raise high flames, tearing the darkness of the Florentine hills guarding the city. Glamour and design in a sort of spectacular and acrobatic balance, in the house of one of the most creative and prolific minds of the world of fashion, between craftsmanship and innovation. This is the interpretation of beauty according to Cavalli. Electric light is use sparingly outside: bright fire cascades of candles and torches paint the paths surrounding the great house, and the sharp edges of the stone of which it is made, in a game of shadows worth a theatre set. Theatrical, just as every interpretation of space is, in the mosaic of interconnected rooms, in the arcades protected by crystal structures, between huge fireplaces, ancient paintings, capitals, sacred wooden sculptures and sumptuously laid tables…Tables that are brimming with cutlery, crystals and chinaware, protected by gigantic, circular light, structures stretched over floral fabrics. “Dance” rhythms and worldliness, among the wine from the family vineyards and a banquet that is played on the harmony of contrasts: refined and beautifully arranged courses, that are a joy for the eyes, along with specialties coming from the Tuscan rustic tradition

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(delicious as well) served in rustic earthenware. Many are the languages that are mixed with music at the Cavalli home: a jet set formed by the guests and the artists friends of CFN, and a range of VIP guests, family friends, which have been invited. A memorable party, that continues until late in the night. The true reflection of the original, unconventional, and playful style of the Maison Cavalli. Also this is a new privileged exciting piece meant to show what Italy is famous for.

VIII. One hundred hours Italy – Fourth Day

Hollywood to Florence. Stars from George Clooney to the Al Saud Royal Family, from Lionel Richie to Renzo Rosso. Stars that shine under the sixteenth-century coffered ceiling by Vasari. In the heart of the city in that “Palazzo Vecchio” that for seven hundred years has demonstrated the Italian genius in the eyes of the world, will end the first Celebrity Fight Night carried out beyond the American boundaries. The Grand Finale features a princely feast that weaves in social life, culture, music, fun. All this with the aim to collect the largest possible amount of money, for the projects of the two foundations involved. “In my life I have participated in more than four hundred charity events” will then comment David Foster, “But this is by far the best of the best”. Inside the impressive “Salone dei Cinquecento” in whose realization also Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti took part, will take place the highest bet ever. The space sumptuously arranged by Ermanno Scervino ( a superlative fashion designer who has dressed the room but also many of the celebrities in attendance), will be soon filled with over three hundred people. The view is amazing, even more from the top balcony over viewing the Salone: a huge frame of square angles (that surrounds the

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imposing frescoes of the Florentine battles against Pisa and Siena). Inside this frame, thirty three circular tables have been arranged and decorated with white and pink roses. The first name of each of the guests has been embroidered on the napkins. The “Gala of the stars” will be a long marathon: which will bring together some among the wealthiest people in the world and great artists, for a sumptuous dinner and an exclusive charity auction. With items like an invitation to dinner with Robert De Niro and Billy Cristal, a white crocodile handbag, (a unique creation by Ermanno Scervino, autographed by the designer, by Andrea and by George Clooney), a jewel watch by De Grisogono, a mythical Officine Panerai “Radiomir 1940” engraved with Andrea’s slogan: “I strongly believe that love does justice” and many other objects of desire. Finally as a culmination of the evening and of the CFN Italian one hundred hours, the highly anticipated opera concert, offering the best on all fronts: the voice of Andrea Bocelli, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the conduction by Zubin Mehta.

Ideally the concert is a great tribute to Muhammad, who is in everyone’s heart tonight; it is also a homage paid to the extraordinary group of donors, but also to the town of Florence where Opera was born: because in the XVI century, not far from here, a group of nobles used to meet, informally, and discuss of music, literature and science. And opposed to the genre of the polyphonic madrigal, looking back to the past (the Greek tragedies) conceived a revolutionary concept of musical theater which would have given infinite joys to the whole world. Other stars have shone though, since the very first of the Florentine days. And they go on doing it, also on this September Sunday when the Signoria Square and all the city center overlooking the River Arno are crowded with people…They are the ABF volunteers who, after a few hours of sleep (because yesterday, at the Cavalli’s, they stayed up late) and after a thousand other tasks, are personally delivering the parcels with the Foundation brochures along with the ones related to the projects, which thanks to the proceeds, will be carried out in Haiti.

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The list of the volunteers is a long one, the stars are many but it is worth counting them one by one: Alessio, Andrea, Chantal, Chicca, Enrico, Ermanno, Giacomo, Katya, Laura G., Luca, Max, Massimo, Milena, Mikela, Olimpia, Oscar Stefano, Valerio. Each of them has a story that it would be nice to tell, each of them has taken a stance in front of life, the choice of those who have decided to stay on the part of good, following Andrea’s example. They are professionals, students, entrepreneurs, they are Veronica and ABF’s friends, they wanted to give their own contribution and give help when and where necessary…From the most delicate tasks, from public relations with princes and important representatives of the high finance world, to the ordinary (but important) ones like enveloping information material. Among the volunteers, even Rachele Bocelli, Andrea’s niece: twenty years old, a college student, who during the days in Florence has coordinated the group with kindness, precision, passion and joy. Rachel has approached ABF slowly… A soft approach that has deeply rooted inside her young heart, to the point of influencing her study choices, and therefore her own future. At the age when you hold the world in your hands, Rachel is a beaming metaphor of the contagious effects of the values that the Foundation advocates.

In the square among the David by Michelangelo, the Perseo by Cellini and the Fontana del Nettuno by Ammannati, a great crowd of onlookers is already next to the barriers. In the Salone the final feverish details are being carried out, and cables and monitors are carefully camouflaged. Only the tables already laid– the result of hours of work and art decoration– would be sufficient to offer a show of indescribable beauty. Veronica, in fact the director of this complex creature, is submitted to crossfire of requests on the part of technicians, sound operators, artists, ceremonial officers, cooperators. Down at the bottom of the Salone are on display all the auction items which tonight will find their new owners. Among the adjoining rooms, one is dedicated to a pool of lawyers, a notary, three volunteers who will handle the necessary (and particularly complicated) procedures that the Italian legislation

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provides for the organization of a charity auction. Another room reproduces, for one day the Almud offices (the structure that deals with the management of Andrea), in the unusual circumstance of being able, for one day, to share the same roof…There is therefore, Massimiliano Ballanti, a close cooperator of Veronica and Andrea, besides being an incomparable volunteer of ABF, he is a wizard of the web, who usually interacts with the world (and keeps under control all that pertains to Maestro Bocelli) from his country house in the Marche. There is Alessia Navarino, southern beauty and Tuscan spirit, constantly next to Veronica, and her desk companion…In another room, still, in front of a computer Gianluigi Attorre, the director of the documentary that will witness the event. And, with him all the team made available by the producer Bibi Ballandi, whose structure has given a significant support, offering unreserved skills, always with a smile and with a sense of balance that, in some critical moments, has really made the difference.

Works of art everywhere: the Palace is a living museum, both at the floor of the Salone, and on the upper floor, which can be accessed from the Grand stairs, between the private apartments of Cosimo I and a wonderful labyrinth of rooms: (the one of the Udienze, of the Priori, of the Gigli, of the Mappe…). On the second floor, a cocktail to welcome the guests, while down in the hall, the stars are gradually walking the red carpet through the enthusiastic crowd. The most popular, George Clooney, arrives together with his fiancée, the beautiful Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin, (and their smiles and kindness will charm the diners). It is George the symbol of this first edition of the Italian CFN. A great actor and director charismatic and brilliant, a public figure not surprisingly actively and constantly engaged in the social, in the fight against poverty, and champion of peace and human rights: Clooney who in the course of the Gala is awarded the Andrea Bocelli Humanitarian Award. «Muhammad Ali was one of my heroes – said the famous actor on stage – he passed me on a taste for life. I remember his stance against the war in Vietnam and his sport achievements». He then added, addressing the audience in the Salone: «There is something I have to tell you: Andrea

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Bocelli can see much better than we do, tragedies and earthquakes, and through evenings like this one is able to help many people». Finally, a love declaration that has excited the media hunting for a scoop, announcing his upcoming marriage in Venice: «I will get married in Italy, in a few weeks. And I would like to tell Amal: I love you so much and I look forward to becoming your husband!»

The curtain finally opens: Veronica, until seconds ago in jeans, directing all the operations behind the scenes, reappears on the red carpet with Andrea and his sons Amos and Matteo in a long evening cornflower blue outfit, enriched with stylized floral embroideries signed Scervino. At the foot of the monumental complex next to the famous Torre di Arnolfo, (one of Florence’s and of Italy’s symbols) other celebrities arrive. From Zubin Mehta and wife to Laura Pausini, from Nicoletta Mantovani Pavarotti to Renzo Rosso, from Belén Rodriguez to Michelle Hunziker (presenting the evening), from Tony Renis, to Cheryl Ladd (unforgettable “Charlie’s Angel”), from the Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, accompanied by his spouse Chiara, to the spouse of our Prime Minister Mrs. Agnese Renzi. In addition, of course, to the elite of Florentine designers and entrepreneurs, to the friends of CFN we have come to learn about), from Lionel Richie (who has been given an award during the evening) to John Legend, from David Foster to Ronnie Dunn. And then some of the most powerful and rich people arrive at Palazzo Vecchio. Many are the celebrities, among the friends of Veronica and Andrea, who would have strongly wanted to be here, and are at the moment withheld by previous engagements they could not desert… Present with heart and affectionate messages celebs like John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Bono(who will jokingly complain about George Clooney being awarded instead of him, because «George is more handsome»).The top model Natal'ja Vodjanova is also missing because of a plane that today has, accidentally, run up in the air without her. She is personally engaged through her Foundation in philanthropy and support to the disadvantaged children in Russia. All names, that with a good chance we will have the joy to applaud during the next Celebrity Fight Night in Italy.

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Over the dinner the greetings of the authorities, the joyful entertainment of Michelle Hunziker and the surprise of a playful opera flash mob by the company “Shai Fishman and the A Cappella”. An ideal embrace is given to Muhammad Ali, he is applauded for his Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and for his battle against Parkinson’s disease, the same happens for Celebrity Fight Night and also for the Andrea Bocelli Foundation whose President Laura Biancalani, recalls the core values: courage, care, creativity competence, cooperation. «When some years ago Andrea decided to establish a Foundation – she explained while on stage– he called us to build a large family, a living laboratory, made of people who help other people, all ready to carry out projects that have an impact on other people’s lives. Personally I love to associate this image with that of an ant hill, where each of us bears his large or small contribution, that together with the others can become a tangible example of doing. And tonight with the cooperation of CFN friends and of all of you, we are taking an important step forward in building this laboratory, all united by the desire to achieve tangible results, for the tormented land of Haiti. I love thinking that we are all building many bridges that starting from our houses, and passing through our wonderful Florence, reach Haiti».

And from Haiti, to the stage of the Salone dei Cinquecento, also the smile and the moving words of the four angels of ABF in Haiti: Roseline Paul, Jaebets Jills, Edy Antoine e Augusnel Osmè.

The line up of the evening is going over the times scheduled, such and so many are the personalities who are given the microphone, even just to say hello. So the charity auction begins while dinner is still being served. The most galvanizing moment of charity is led by the famous auctioneer Simon de Pury, known by the nickname “Mick Jagger of art auctions”. Renzo Rosso, the “genius of jeans”, a close friend of the Bocelli family, must leave the room before the Gala is over, he has been close to CFN tonight, testifying his affection to the project, despite having to be in his New York office tomorrow morning for an urgent deal.

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And then music. Even the flautist Andrea Griminelli a friend of Andrea’s and a former cooperator and intimate friend of Luciano Pavarotti, is performing on stage. He will then leave the stage to a spectacular sequence of operatic music performed by Andrea (in perfect shape) under the baton of Maestro Zubin Mehta. From “Donna non vidi mai” drawn from “Manon Lescaut”(an opera he has recorded this year) to the Grand Finale on the notes of “Nessun Dorma” from “Turandot”. A triumphant conclusion, while an airplane is already waiting for the Bocelli Family in Forte dei Marmi, in a few hours it will be flying , towards Uzbekistan, Australia and New Zeland. For Andrea and Veronica stronger than fatigue, is the joy of touching with hands the overwhelming power of ideas. Sometimes in order to move mountains, an idea is sufficient (if lived fully without any compromise). Just like the one of Andrea who has given birth to ABF and that we love to recall: “I strongly believe that love does justice. And it is for this simple reason that we are all responsible for building a better world. Since love energizes faith, the opposite must also be true. The amazing lives we have been gifted, offer us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give the less fortunate a better future and opportunities.”

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IX. The reasons for a journey

Encadrement: In the Creole language, the word (deriving from French) has a special meaning, having the sweet sound of embrace and welcome. This is a key word that the volunteers have learnt in Haiti. The Andrea Bocelli Foundation arrives in the Caribbean Island thanks to the encounter of Andrea with Father Frechette. He is an American Passionist priest, a doctor and the founder and director of NPH Haiti, Father Rick has dedicated all of his life to assist many children in need and to adopt the poorest and most marginalized communities and families on the island. For this reason some years ago he gave life to the Fondation Saint Luc, which includes exclusively Haitian staff, ABF works side by side with the operators of the “St. Luc”, particularly on projects that are targeted to empower people and communities.

Laura Biancalani, President of ABF, a lawyer specialized in the management of cooperative and nonprofit companies, prefers avoiding, if she can, cameras and microphones, by her very nature she prefers being and act “on the field”. Having been for many

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years active in troubled areas all over the world, she has been and will always be a regular presence in Haiti, along with her cooperator Olimpia Angeletti. From the stage of the Florentine Gala, Laura explains what has already been done and what will be done in Haiti, (but also in Italy, and in USA where a project in the field of scientific and technological research with UCLA in Los Angeles and with MIT in Boston will be soon completed) and what will be done, thanks to Celebrity Fight Night: « We started by adopting three street schools, a little more than huts. In Haiti to go to school means survive, eat, get treatment. Once stabilized children’s attendance at school and gained the trust of families, we are transforming the street schools in safe and functional structures, that everyone can see grow, month after month, visiting our site and our face book profile». Nearly 1200 children, 800 families, 3 entire communities. Thanks to them these days in Tuscany have a meaning. Without them so much cheerfulness, so much social life, would be empty boxes. These are the numbers of the new ABF project, that is taking shape(with its tight schedules due to the constant state of emergency in the island) thanks to the funds raised by the Italian Celebrity Fight Night . In practice ABF by adopting three street schools, and transforming them in safer and more functional structures, will expand their role, thus enabling them to become the community center. This intervention is inspired by the ideas of Giorgio La Pira a politician, a man of faith, who was the mayor of Florence in the 50s: he was a University Professor, a Franciscan tertiary, one of the fathers of the Italian Constitution, and he wrote: "The city is a common home - in which all the elements that compose it are organically linked; a workshop is an organic element of the city, so is the cathedral, the school, or the hospital. It is all part of this common home, so there is only dough, and yeast, one responsibility that is connected to the common duties. "

A reflection that results for ABF in a great project and in a replicable model: the implementation of the three schools with simple but essential elements for development such as light, water and web laboratories. And starting from the teaching facilities

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provide to the communities of Kenskoff, Croix des Bouquet and Abricot, water, light, and tools to develop agriculture…Empowering each community to build a dignified future. Starting from schools ABF would like to implement projects going beyond the walls of the schools and reaching the most marginalized and needy families of the communities. We would like to ensure that each individual can find reference points in the Institutions and in people so as to have a respectable life, and a dignified work in a better environment. We would like to give back life to the most beautiful inner parts of the island subtracting entire families to alienation and poverty that in the slums cancel their dignity. This in the spirit of the mission of the Andrea Bocelli Foundation that aims to: help people in need because of illness, poverty and social exclusion, by promoting and supporting national and international projects favoring the overcoming of such barriers and full self expression. ABF works to ensure that every individual and every community can express themselves to the best of their ability and beyond their limits.

X. The beauty that changes the world

It is early in the morning. The mobile rings. While speaking Veronica is going up the aircraft steps together with Andrea, the pilot is waiting to receive the ok to take off. There is just the time for some information, for a greeting to extend to her exceptional trip mate. Andrea who, last night in Palazzo Vecchio really sparkled. After hours of conversation and spotlights (being the main host of the event and of the entire project), he got up from the table and, with no time for concentration or to warm his voice, he went on stage next to a sacred monster like Zubin Mehta, creating wonders with his voice in one of his most intense and dazzling performances ever. The night before he had got home very late, and before falling asleep he had thought of his many unknown, affectionate friends all over the world. So he wanted to write down his impressions immediately and had written, at the end of this further challenge, a short memoir: «Dear diary, I realize that I have neglected you very much,

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but if you only knew how many things I have had to do, and how many I should have told you.. »..

A few seconds more before turning off the mobile. An initial assessment? Veronica is happy for what will be done with the funds raised, for the great visibility that Florence and the whole of Italy have had, for the wealth of experience and of human relationships that this difficult, but exciting, marathon has brought about. « And anyway we learn through our mistakes - she adds – and for the future, we will bear in mind what might have been done in a better, or a different way…sometimes a touch of madness is necessary, otherwise if you are afraid of making mistakes, you will not do anything. When it is necessary you have to throw your heart over the obstacle…and if you really believe in it, in the end the dream will come true. Just as it happened with this Celebrity Fight Night». The summer holidays have been swept away by the preparations. After more than one year of work, after so much adrenaline, now that it is all over, joy is mixed to a little dismay and almost to a feeling of emptiness… In fact a month later back from Australia, the second edition is already scheduled: five days, 10th to 14th September 2015. And already many celebrities, in the world have positively answered and will be “with us”.

“I have always been charmed by beauty, the beauty of good has always moved me“. These are words of Andrea. This trip to Italy seems to personify this aphorism, because it is a manifestation that is looking for beauty and finds goodness (and looking for goodness finds beauty). The constant smile, the curiosity, the sense of wonder, the willingness to get excited, the desire to help, these are the main features of these one hundred guests catalyzed by the love for the beauty of Italy and for the voice of Andrea. They are the peculiarities, the common ground on which such a surprising series of meetings and invitations that has made friends and sometimes brothers and sisters, the great donors, the explorers of beauty, and those who of beauty are considered the high priests :

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the Ferragamo family, Stefano Ricci, Ermanno Scervino, Eva Cavalli, the Maison Pucci, the Officine Panerai, Maserati. And then the artists: Andrea first of all, and Zubin Mehta, Sofia Loren, George Clooney, Lionel Richie, John Legend, David Foster, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Dunn, Andrea Griminelli, Laura Pausini, Michelle Hunziker

Because beauty, it is useful to remember, helps in changing the world, and it is precious, indeed, essential, keep it inside, inside the heart of all of us, growing it through the painstaking work of the researcher. Because with this primal impulse, in every action, you cannot but always choose the action heading towards good, always. With this in mind and with the generous help that music can give to such an investigation, beauty can guide us in every decision. And every choice can help change the world. Every day, every gesture is a bright pearl, a gem that apparently only we, can see, because we wear it at the bottom of our soul. But that will be able to make, everything surrounding us, shine. «Even if good is no news, anyone in his own heart can understand how that represents the only viable way for the whole of humanity. I think that life has been conceived as an eternal struggle between evil and good. A crossroad we have in front of us every time we have to take a decision…The answers are in front of us because our conscience can show us the way. It is therefore a fight at the end of which we can hope good will triumph. But to let this happen everybody must do their part. Andrea Bocelli

“I will do my part, having the joy and the good fortune to be next to a great man, having the privilege of being listened to by many people of good will, by many of Andrea’s friends all around the world. A little bit is sufficient, everything can help. Just do not pretend nothing has happened”.

Veronica Berti Bocelli

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