Jan 03, 2026
3 min read
"Ricci even checked our makeup. My jeans are the jeans I've always had. I cried because of Guardì's explosion"
Roberta Lanfranchi: "I rejected calendars and reality shows, as a showgirl I used to earn a million lira a night. I no longer feel in touch with Pino Teach"
"Richie checked our makeup too. My scales are the pair of jeans I've always worn. I'm pale from the garda attack."
We are reprinting Renato Franco's interview with Roberta Lanfranchi, published in August, most appreciated by our readers in 2025.
"Distinguishing feature: bad luck. I showed up at the audition with a black bike, high quality t-shirt and shoes that I can't even explain. I looked around and saw a girl in a high bikini, body oil and stilettos. And I thought: "Maybe not for me".
From lost audition to showgirl.Roberta Lanfranchi entered television at the age of 20 (with Fiorello), immediately achieved widespread and popular success (Stricia la Notizia), working with Frizzi and Villaggio, Lorella Cuccarini and Gerry Scotti ("She always brought us chocolate").Today her daily commitment is on radio (Rds).
The audition was in May, but she didn't hear anything until July.
"Someone called and said it was Antonio Ricci, but I immediately thought it was a crazy joke from a friend of mine who knew I was testing Striscia."
Instead, the "idiot" was actually Ricci.
"He would come out of his offices and walk past us: how are you doing? Is everything okay today? She would check her makeup and clothes, then we would go on air. He was our director, to this day I remember him as 'the director' on the phone."
"No, no fear. But he has a very serious air, like a school teacher actually."
Before "Striscia" there was Fiorello: his TV series.
"I saw the dancers Bryan, Brian & Garrison in the dance master class. He looked at me and said, 'I need a sixth toothbrush.' I said, 'What the hell, toothbrush?'He then explained that he was referring to the dancers in Fiorello's show, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush.
A stroke of great luck.
"Usually I have a coincidence, but in the end it's not a coincidence at all. But it was Thursday and I had to be in the rehearsal room on Monday. The train ride home was the longest of my life because I didn't know how to tell my parents that I had to move to Milan. As soon as I arrived in the city, I felt that thebeat me."
It is subtle.
"I'm always my own first critic, my first reaction is to feel inadequate."
Did you get in trouble with your co-workers for being a prima donna?
"Perhaps I behave in such a calm manner that they don't see me as an adversary: I respect the role entrusted to me and stay on my path. If you tell me to do something, I will do it. If there is a comma to add, I will ask you to."
Calm and composed people are most angry when they get angry…
"Of course I am. I'm always late, and I'm a lazy, hot-headed person. But a few obvious tantrums escape me."
Who is he confiding in?
"I am with Claudio Guerrini, my partner at Rds, today after nine years together it is as if we are married. But several times I have offended him with a vein in my neck: if that happens it changes my face, I turn into a monster."
How many calendars did he reject?
"My friend, that's a shame. Because I always thought my grandmother saw it too. I had such a fixed idea that I couldn't do it."
The highest amount he refused?
"It didn't even make it to the stage, but I think I could have bought a house. During my time as a showgirl with Marina Graziani (another girl), we finished on a Friday night and went to events, dinners, inaugurations, we did everything."
How much did they pay for an evening meal with showgirls?
"One million lira, at that time it was a lot."
"At first they offered them to me, and then they realized that I always say no."
But, why did his grandmother object?
"I'm a great viewer of reality shows, and I watch them all. I really like human dynamics and how people get angry in constrained situations. And I think, oh my god, look what these people are doing. And then I realize, it could have been me...I'll never have those."
Francesca Chillemi stole her job at the Carabineros.
«No, fregato no. Evidentemente io sono stata più cagna e lei è stata più brava. Sulla meritocrazia non transigo: se facciamo la stessa cosa e tu sei più brava, lo ammetto senza problemi».
He came to Rds in 2014. Has radio replaced TV?
"Today I feel at home on the radio, but when I came in I was really a pee. I went on the air, but I didn't know how to do it, because the language of radio is completely different from that of television: much more conversational, less organized. The first month I was completely confused and thought they were going to kick me out."
Instead they did not sell out: for nine years now he has been on air every afternoon with Claudio Guerini.
"I like the daily contact with the audience, the immediate response when you talk about news that might concern them, interest them, entertain them".
A professional day to survive?
"Definitely more than one: all the time I spent with Michelle Gordy".
Ag "Piazza Grande", the Magalli.
"Three beautiful months. But I will not forget the shit that Guardi did to me. We all sat, walked around and smiled while we read Paolo Fox's horoscope. At one point the audience applauded, and I joined them. Michel pressed the control button and shouted into the microphone: Stop, whore! You do not have to clap, my presenter did not clap in front of him mocking. If you have to clap, do it calmly so that your hands are not heard clapping like a seal."
Ritchie invited him to the Sunday version of the "Paperissima Sprint" seven years ago.
"He didn't call me, I still said goodbye, after twenty years it's about recycling! I always tell him: but I'm 51, take 25. But nothing, he says he wants 51."
She married Pino Insegno, you had two children: many divorces are complicated, is this yours?
"It was not easy, but thank God that we are two people who still love each other: we made it clear to our children that mother and father's problems were not mother's problems with her children or father's problems with her children. So separation is never a game. Now we don't talk to Benno, but not because we hate each other. We don't hear from each other, because we don't need to hear from each other."
She is currently married to television writer Emmanuel Del Greco.
"He's my saint, he's the guy who gives me the biggest laugh in the world even though I look like a bear. And he's very patient with me."
Is she more obsessed with mirrors or scales?
"I don't even have a scale at home: you can't be a slave to something high or low. My scale is a pair of jeans I've always had, half between 40 and 42. If it fits, they will if I don't take too much care.'
"Zero. Makeup, dresses, stiletto heels I hate, cars, traffic, parties where you know 4 people out of 700. Smile, smile, smile so you can see the extra wrinkles. So you have to go home. And? How was your night? What did you do?"
Nothing.It's not for me."
How did he feel in those years when millions of people looked at him and thousands of girls wanted to be in his place?
«I come from Cremona.Who expected this?"When will this happen again? What a crazy time!"
