Giovanna Botteri is retiring after a long career as a war correspondent and then a Rai correspondent. His latest reports in France highlighted the national phenomenon of the Rally, the big winner of last Sunday's European Championships. This is just the latest of many pages of history told by the journalist who, in recent years, has spoken to the Italian public about other large and complex countries like the United States and China. “Icon of public service”, Usigrai paid tribute to him on the day Botteri reached retirement age. Nothing to ask, but a lot of memories, and some lessons to pass on without a doubt, for her. “I'm not on social networks, right now what I really want is to thank everyone who helped me during these years at Rai, who was close to me, who taught me a lot of things: colleagues, technicians, operators, editors, employees, those who take the pieces from you – Botteri informs Ansa from Paris – The beauty of this adventure is that it is a human adventure, for the people you meet, the stories you hear, for those who work for you and with you and who perhaps you cannot see them. If my work was done well, it is thanks to them. This is the strong lesson of humility and respect that these years have taught me and this is what I carry with me.”
Career and projects
Triestina, born in 1957, after his first experiences in the written press, Botteri began to collaborate with Rai, then joining the foreign editorial staff of Tg3, a newspaper for which he covered as special correspondent some of the main events international standards of recent decades. – from the revolution in Romania to the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, from the G8 in Genoa to the war in Iraq, winning the Ilaria Alpi Prize and the Saint Vincent Prize for his services from Baghdad. “It's good to pass the baton to others, there are a lot of good young journalists – thinks Botteri – But a job like this cannot be abandoned: we know how to do it and we continue to do it , like De André's The Player Jones. , 'playing affects you / for your whole life'. It is a path that can perhaps also be followed in a different way. » Also because “passions all maintain each other, they are never abandoned. Maybe, since I'm passionate about swimming, I'll do more laps now.”
Memories of a lifetime
“I remember that when I first arrived in the Balkans, in a bombed house where everyone had been killed – Botteri told Ansa from Paris – I saw the bag from a department store in Trieste where I went too: war is a real thing. , it touches you. I think it was also an attempt: to make those at home feel that what is happening is perhaps not so far away.” The memories pile up: “I had my very young daughter, I I was one of the few war reporters, perhaps the only one with children, and I was ashamed to show that I was afraid: well, I learned that you shouldn't be ashamed to 'be afraid, because fear It dictates caution and saves your life And then, in difficult situations, I learned to distinguish good people from bad people, because at times there is no compromise. nor pretense, even in dealing with people there is much truth.” “I understood – she continues – how much being a woman makes a difference, something that I always claim: my eyes are those of a woman, of a mother, I have told stories that were perhaps not so obvious, at a time when little was said about refugees, civilians and families, aspects that today it would be impossible to remove from history. And it is a result obtained in part thanks to us, who brought our sensitivity, our attention, a feminine gaze not in the sense that it belongs to a woman, but which is capable of telling something different.
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