by Candida Morvillo
The former king of the Tronisti: «I had four bodyguards because the fans tore my clothes. Now I’m investing in cryotherapy»
Front page of Corriere della Sera, 2004 edition. Aldo Cazzullo wrote: “The part that belonged to young Werther and Holden, Sal Paradise and Siddhartha, the characters in which one or more generations recognized themselves, lies in this period of Costantino Vitagliano, 29 years old, known as Costa».
Costantino, do you remember this article?
‘What years… I photographed Max’s calendar doing what I dreamed of doing when I was in council housing. I presented my book in the square of Porto Cervo and they had to close it, there was Raiuno, Raidue… They never closed it for Flavio Briatore and Bruno Vespa. I thought: I’m a nobody, I’m in eighth grade, can I really move all that stuff? And then I pumped as much as I could».
He pumped to do what?
“Money money money. I come from nothing. I never went on vacation until I was 16. Today I have a house in Milano Marittima, I have things that I saw in the newspapers and on TV as a child. With the “I got my first money to retire dad. I couldn’t believe this success: I was on a Briatore boat with models and Hollywood stars, but the paparazzi were looking for me”.
Tell me a star they snubbed for you.
«He didn’t understand: I arrived at the Billionaire and there was a crowd outside just to see me enter. I arrived at three in the morning with a private flight, after touring the discos of Italy, three in the evening: only with clubs I billed a few million a year».
What did the tenements he came from look like?
«Palazzoni on Via Calvairate in Milan, where you had to get by every day. Some of those who played football with me are in prison.”
How did she do it?
“When I was 16, I worked in my uncle’s bar. Then Enzo Jannacci and Paolo Rossi took me to wash the glasses at the Bolgia Umana and there I went to the dining room to play the picture boy. Then I worked out in the gym, I became a cubist, a stripper. But I was never a gigolo or a possessed man or a porn actor, all what they asked me to do. Later I worked as Paolo Limiti’s valet, I made Casa Vianello. I paraded, I posed, I carried the book: 15 years of teaching. I also worked with Fabio Fazio».
He exploded as a men’s and women’s Tronista in 2003, then switched to Buona Domenica. The “Costa” was born from an idea of De Filippi and Maurizio Costanzo?
“There were no ideas. I was one of many. But Maria, for men and women, gave me more space every day: I worked”.
It was the womanizer who kissed you and said: I didn’t hear anything.
“It was a different world. Nowadays women don’t even know how they want a man. The ones that work now are up to my armpit, they are as big as my arm ».
He’s engaged to Alessandra Pierelli and you told your story at Costanzo’s on Sunday. were you really together
“Everything was true in those 40 minutes of television. Then I had other lives, they caught me with the jacuzzi girls and on Ale live I said it was a set…”.
When did you realize that it had become a phenomenon?
“When Costanzo showed me the audience data and said to me: You’re there, a giant peak. Then I did Stranamore in Milan, seriously. Those were Lele Mora’s years and I paid for the consequences like many of her agency. I lived in the building where he was stationed. For years he told me: sooner or later you will work for me. Then, at about 26 years old, I was a mouflon to these football players and I thought I was getting old, so I let them convince me».
The most incredible episode of his career?
“Join me among the sexiest bodies in an American list with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.”
What do you remember about women?
“They slipped into the cars, into the dressing rooms. On a cruise, I found one dressed as Wonder Woman in bed.”
Mora was an empire and seemed to embody the evil of television.
“He was like a father to me, he made me discover how to make money, how to show up. I had a full program with him for five years. He had me sponsored from head to toe: I wore my underwear on sight because they paid me ».
How did he spend the money?
«I had apartments that I rented, restaurants, pizzerias. I bought a Bentley for 240,000 euros and Ferrari, Lamborghini. Now I rent the car when I need it. But I see aspiring influencers taking photos in front of someone else’s Ferrari… I’ve had real experiences. What do they do if you leave them without a phone? I lived in Madrid for five years, Leo DiCaprio was always with me privately. I stood shirtless at the console while Phil Collins played the drums. In Sardinia, I dated Beyoncé and Jay Z, I bought diamonds like them, before today’s rappers.”
Aldo Grasso wrote in 7: “How long will it take us to realize that a country whose hero is Costa is a ridiculous country? ».
«Today the idols are Tiktokers and Youtubers. They make ugly vulgar videos that make you stupid. I sold beauty, what are they selling? I say to my seven-year-old daughter: Unplug the cell phone and swing it».
Why did he live in Madrid?
“For panic attacks. They came to me after the evenings. I hated hearing my name, I hated being all over the billboards. I traveled with four bodyguards, otherwise I returned naked: they tore my clothes. When I landed in Bari there were four thousand people outside and the police had to close the airport. The physicist was there, but he lost his head. At some point I said to myself: I’m fine with life, I don’t have to earn anything anymore. I slowed down but the attacks came. I moved to Spain to live there, but I became a Costa there too and came back».
Is your pension enough to live on?
«I have a shop and apartments, but I cannot sit still: I am a partner and testimonial of cryotherapy centers and I am opening my own in Milan. Cryo is the future, it’s good for osteoporosis, cellulite, aging… The other day I went to minus 180 degrees in three minutes, my skin has changed. Then I do fashion shows, I moderate events».
Why isn’t he on TV anymore?
“I’m going to do Rai in prime time. For the rest I don’t go because they pay little now».
What do you miss from the golden days?
“To be 27 years old and to have a life ahead of you that rocks”.
January 19, 2023 (change January 19, 2023 | 09:03)
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