Special content - Romani Neri interview

SPECIAL CONTENT > ROMANO NERI INTERVIEW ROMANO NERI A LIFE DEDICATED TO MOTORSPORT

Romano Neri is a reference point in the Motorsport as photographer and videomaker. He worked for magazines and companies and also for institutions as FIM, FIM Europe and FMI, the Italian Motorcycle Federation. We had the occasion to meet him in summer time and he gave us a priceless treasure: his archive regarding the European events. His work is history. It’s a pleasure to celebrate his amazing career and job.

How did your passion for motorsport begin?

Like most passions born, when I was a child. I've always loved photography. When I was young, one summer I had the opportunity to meet a photographer who worked on the Adriatic Coast: he gave me a camera and I took pictures of VIPs on holiday. That was my first experience. Then I met Walter Bernagozzi, who was in the motorsport and worked with the FMI, the Motorcycle Italian Federation. It was 1974 and my first job was a report about the circuits' safety: I was going around the track with a camera on the hood of a car. This report was presented at the San Marino Congress and from this on started the improvement in safety. Since then I have never stopped working with motorbikes.

Which is your best memory?

It's hard to say, because I have so many good memories to tell. Perhaps, the most beautiful is the relationship I had with riders: we talked, we eat together. I remember Walter Villa with love, he was a real friend. I was in direct contact with champions, as Fausto Gresini or Luca Cadalora. I remember

when I filmed Loris Capirossi's first European victory; he was 16 years old! Then the debut of riders like Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso.

SPECIAL CONTENT > ROMANO NERI INTERVIEW

Many friends. But was there a rider with whom you just didn't get on?

I got along with everyone. There are no disliked riders. A rider is a fighter: he has the ability to prevail over all.

If you were to write a book, how would you start? For sure it would be a real adventure!

I would start from a small village in the Lower Romagna, Conselice, where I was born during the war, in 1942, in a peasant family. I would have liked to go to school, but in those days there were not many possibilities. I had to start working early, helping my father in the fields. But it wasn't for me, so I took a degree in electrical engineering. I started working as electrician, but I didn't like it. My sister sent me to work as hairdresser, but I didn't like that either. Then, my cousin suggested me to go to Imola as photographer assistant. I started to develop rollers and print photos. I learned the basics of being a photographer. But I wasn't able to photograph. So, a photographer on the Adriatic Coast offered me a job as paparazzo on the beach. It was 1962: I spent four months, from morning to night, chasing celebrities. On the last day of the season I was doing a shoot and slipped, breaking my camera: what I saved, I spend on buying a new camera! From there I opened my studio, shooting weddings, but I soon tired of. In those days the editorial of Moto Sprint and Auto Sprint were being born and Marcello Sabatini, the Editorial Chief, asked me to follow the F1. How many memories! At the Salzburgring, when the Alfa 33s were still running, I raced with Arturo Merzario! But I had sad memories too, as when I was at Montjuic with Marco Piccinini and Rolf Stommelen lost the spoiler and the car crash into the grandstand causing the death of 13 people.

What does your archive contain?

I ran the Italian federal film archive for 36 years. I still get goose bumps when I think of Vincenzo Mazzi interviewing the Italian team members at the European Championships. Inside the archive there are thousands of photos and unpublished footage of the European races. There are many riders who today are great riders, some even became World Champions.

So many years of collaboration with FIM Europe. Who is the person you most hold in your heart?

Certainly Dr. Vincenzo Mazzi. But also many of my collaborators and friends, who have travelled with me over the years.