The lawsuit that is gripping Italy
Glamour couple fights over Rolex and Chanel
About eighteen years ago, I had the chance to live in Rome for a while. Learning a bit of Italian, a touch of diving into film history, and above all, spending a lot of time eating and riding on the back of a Vespa. Every two weeks, we made our traditional trip to the Stadio Olimpico, to cheer for AS Roma in general and for Francesco Totti in particular. Totti and his wife Ilary Blasi were a bit of the leitmotif of our Rome period. We checked off his favorite restaurants (what was good enough for Francesco and Ilary seemed fine for us too) and we improved our Italian by reading the weekly updates about the couple in the gossip magazines. He was the top scorer of AS Roma, she was a presenter and model who seemed to be getting more and more into filler injections every year. When they named their daughter Chanel, my happiness was complete. More Italian could not be my passion.
But because glamour couples apparently stick their fingers in their ears and shout very loudly ‘rhubarb rhubarb’ when the marriage vow ‘in good times and bad’ is pronounced, there were also dents in the polished happiness here. Totti stopped playing football, fell into a slump, lost his father to Covid-19, contracted the disease himself with long-term effects, and, according to him, could not count on Ilary's support. She was too busy showing her pouted lips to others, so the story goes.
Totti found himself a new girl and the shit moved in a smooth motion towards the fan. It now sprays all the misery around like a madman. He keeps her shoes worth 4000 euros, she plays quartet with his collection of Rolexes and posts provocative videos of herself in front of the Rolex boutique in Rome. He then sits back on her mountain of bags (Vuitton, Hermès, and Chanel of course), and because the Romans are always pro Totti, Ilary is said to have fled to Milan.
Today the judge will deliver a verdict. Not about custody and alimony, but – first things first – about the Rolexes and the bags. In that order. It is still Italy, of course.
