"He was an exceptional person, highly cultured and possessing a superior intelligence. He was capable of intuiting things that others often only understood afterwards. A great, enormous loss. For the world of information, certainly. But also from a human perspective, for those of us who had the fortune and privilege of knowing him, and not just in front of a television screen." This is how Antonello Sanna and his wife Milly Carta remember Emilio Fede, journalist and longtime director of Tg1 and Tg4, who died on Tuesday at the age of 94. Originally from Simaxis—he was 59, she was 52—since the mid-1990s, they have been the caretakers of the apartment building where Fede lived, in Milan 2, the "model neighborhood" built by Silvio Berlusconi on the outskirts of the Lombardy capital. And they are among those who were closest to him in recent years, visiting him periodically even in the retirement home where "the Director" was later admitted.

A hard blow

"The news of his passing saddened us greatly. We hadn't been to visit him since May. Just recently, we said to ourselves, 'We have to come in September.' So when we learned that his condition had worsened, it was an even greater blow." Sanna proudly recalls how, starting in 1995, when Fede moved into the Milan 2 apartment building where he and Milly had been managing the concierge for three years, their relationship with "the Director" gradually grew closer: "A great feeling was created, we were almost like family." "At first," says Antonello, "we were just caretakers, then over time, deep trust developed and we became friends—in fact, I'd say more than friends. In recent years, the Director had, in addition to his daughters, a housekeeper, a driver, and other collaborators, but he would often call us, both for important matters and for the simplest things, like fixing a television that wasn't working or fixing a problem with his smartphone. He knew that when he needed anything he could count on us, for anything."

Memories of the Knight

Confidences, jokes, and long conversations were common between them. Like those about their stays in Sardinia, when Fede, especially in the summer, was a guest of the Cavaliere at Villa Certosa. "He told us about how Berlusconi would wake him up at dawn, saying, 'Are you still in bed? Wake up and come with me!'" Then he would take him to visit the residence's large park, showing him plants and flowers and extolling the beauty and uniqueness of Sardinia's flora and natural heritage. "He could talk about it for hours," the Director would say with a smile, admitting that the nature of our island is truly unique and out of the ordinary." But Fede also greatly appreciated Sardinia's cuisine: "He loved," Sanna recalls, "the spaghetti with clams and bottarga that my wife would prepare for him. When we visited him at the nursing home, he always told us he wanted to eat it again, drinking a glass of wine. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible."

The last farewell

Antonello and his wife Milly will be attending the funeral today, in Milan 2. "After the sad news, we called his daughter, Sveva, to ask if we could attend. And she responded with her usual kindness: 'Of course, you can't miss it.'" This is because, concludes Antonello Sanna, "we loved each other. We loved him, and he loved us. And we will always continue to love him, with the hope that these words, along with our love, will reach him, wherever he is now."

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