2024-07-30 03:20:46
Bolzano. The water. Sandro Occasionalhistoric Rai cameraman, pioneer of underwater filming, has lived in the water all his life. And so, in the water, with a dive (headfirst) at sunset into Lake Monticolo he wanted to celebrate his 90th birthday. A collective dive from the platform of the Lido restaurant. With his wife Maria, his daughters Cristina and Paola, his granddaughters Federica and Susanna, his sons-in-law and his dearest friends. The water welcomed him as always: fresh but not freezing, pleasant, while the sunlight faded into pink, purple and then into the blue of dusk, amid the serene laughter of his daughters, friends and grandchildren. Monticolo, because here, still a child, Sandro began to dive. «In the summers from ’40 to ’42’ I came here with my father Teodoro, an Austrian from Linz with distant Trentino-Alto Adige origins. My mother, on the other hand, was from Venice. It was in Venice that, as a very small child, I learned to stay afloat». Late 1930s, Calle Quintavalle. “In the canal between the church of San Pietro and the entrance to the Arsenal. Grandma Lucia accompanied me. I clung to her washing table and kicked my feet in that calm and reassuring sea. I must have been four or five years old. I began to swim and go underwater without even realizing it. For me it’s as natural as walking and breathing.”
The sea in the DNA
The sea is blood in the veins of Sandro Saltuari, born in Bolzano on July 22, 1934. «It’s in my DNA – he continues -. My maternal grandfather, who was also called Teodoro, went around the world three times on merchant ships. His stories of oceans and distant, exotic and mysterious places attracted me like a magnet since I was a boy». Swimming, freediving, the diving license. «My first serious mask was a “Pinocchio”. A large pan from which water came in by the liter. Uncomfortable but revolutionary in its own way». In 1971, already an operator for Rai, he was the first to film underwater diving competitions. «At the Bolzano meeting, followed all over the world. It was the era of Little dog e refracted. With tanks on my shoulders, I would stand with the camera at the bottom of the Olympic pool, under the diving boards.” Diving, seen from a completely new perspective, changes the way we experience sport on TV.
“It all started there: from the Olympics…” Occasionally he travels the world. He follows the Winter and Summer Olympics, films the world freediving record of Enzo Majorca (-110 meters). He finds wrecks in the depths, recovers dangerous poisonous barrels off the coast of Sardinia that were sunk with a Greek ship. He films fin whales, sperm whales and dolphins all over the planet, documents cetacean sanctuaries. Near the island of Manda in Kenya, he comes face to face with giant groupers weighing a quintal. “Yes – he nods absorbedly -, it was a great, beautiful adventure.”
Today he still practices freediving. “In the Olympic pool at the Lido I sit on the bottom, five meters away: I look up at the diving boards. I like the glare of the sun cutting through the pool. I see Giorgio and Klaus breaking through the water… elegantly diving in like dolphins and then coming back up to the surface. Memorable memories. We remained friends for life…”. Pause. “At the seaside – he continues – I still go down to ten meters. My lungs are holding up well.” After all, celebrating 90 years with a dive is not for everyone. To use a concept dear to Berlusconi, “what counts is not chronological age but biological age.”
But is it really like that? Looking at him, Saltuari takes at least twenty years off. Tanned, in great shape, a lean physique, a silver mane over his sea-blue eyes. “The recipe? If I had it,” he jokes, “I would have written a book and made millions. Let’s say I’ve never indulged. I’ve always played sports, I’ve never smoked, but I don’t deny myself a good bottle or a proper dinner. I live day by day. I gratefully take what the good Lord gives me. Like everyone, I’ve had my health problems. A few MOTs are inevitable.” So: biological or chronological age? “The truth is different,” he cuts short, “it’s the word “elderly” that should be abolished. You are what you feel. As journalist Giovanna Botteri recently said, “age doesn’t mean anything anymore.” Having retired at 67, she signed up for a surfing course…”
Occasional people, and many other ninety-year-olds like him, are proof of this. There is no need for miracle solutions or Cocoon elixirs. “The important thing – says he, who is still a pillar of Bolzano Sub and until a few months ago was president of the Bresadola mycological association (mushrooms are his other obsession, he checks the radioactivity levels together with the Appa technicians) – is to cultivate passions, interests and true friendships. And then read, stay informed, talk to young people. Don’t lock yourself up at home. Never”.
And take a nice dip at sunset with your wife, daughters and beloved granddaughters.
2024-07-30 03:20:46