Porto Torres, when Walter Chiari campaigned for Psd'az

At the beginning of May 1989 at the Olimpia cinema theater in Porto Torres, "The owl and the kitten" was staged, a comedy with Lory Del Santo and Walter Chiari. It was a great success and Tore Fadda, the city councilor for culture at the time, a rising star of Psd'az in the area, invited the two protagonists to dinner, like a good host. And the spark strikes . Walter Chiari really likes that bearded young man, with quick speech and marked imagination, but he also likes his lively friends. These are the times of Mario Melis and a Psd'az at its peak.

Walter Chiari decides to lend a hand to the local section and to his friend Tore as a candidate for the next regional ones. The Veronese actor, then 65 years old, a lover of Sardinia and the Sardinians, threw his heart and soul into the dispute . And he never backs down. In Sorso and in the Latte Dolce district of Sassari he gets into an Ape car with his friend Tore and begins his speech with a megaphone on the back. Compare Sardinia to a beautiful woman, he who knows women, and how. He incites the Sardinians to ransom, exalts a land he adores, amiably makes fun of some people in the audience. Talk to them. He is a showman, a river in flood. Never intrusive. Who knows how to leave the scene to his friends. He advises them on how to seduce the audience. And then the dinners at the restaurant: jokes, fish and cannonau.

«These have been intense weeks - says Tore Fadda -. Walter became a friend to me the minute we met. He was immediately one of us, a humble, intelligent and nice person. Always cheerful. And then we were a bit crazy then, in a good way, but full of initiatives. It was easy to understand each other. But Walter was also a very sensitive person. One day - he continues - we were in a restaurant near Oschiri. Next to us an elderly husband and wife couple. They held hands and occasionally spoke to each other, looking amiably into each other's eyes. Walter watching that scene was moved and even a few tears fell . Maybe in his heart he was lonely. He who had had the most beautiful women in the world».

Walter, however, does not deny himself, every now and then a brief disappearance and a return. «Once he reappeared in Porto Torres in the company of Petra, then a famous porn star - adds Nando Nocco, a Sardinian exponent -. Petra was also very nice to us and I think she enjoyed those days a lot. Those were decidedly more carefree years and Walter put even more spice into it».

Tore Fadda gets a lot of votes, but only comes close to being elected to regional councilor, which he fully deserved. He had also touched her 5 years earlier.

«It didn't make a drama out of it and Walter Chiari was obviously a master in trying to cheer us up», underlines Nando Nocco. Before returning to Milan, Walter Chiari wants to get to know the former boxer and featherweight champion of Lombardy, old local glories such as the former world boxing champion from Alghero Tore Burruni and the very strong middleweight from Turrito Francesco Fiori. They are kisses and hugs. Memories. Like when Walter Chiari attends the extraordinary match between Francesco Fiori and Sandro Mazzinghi in Rome: an epic clash of the titans . Then the actor leaves for Milan, maintaining contact with his friends. He died in Milan, in his home, two years later: on December 20, 1991. A fulminant heart attack. Walter Chiari was only 67 years old. "But we - say his friends from Porto Torres - we have never forgotten him".