Rosita Celentano is one of those people who don't seek center stage, but end up occupying it naturally. Born into a significant artistic legacy, she has forged an independent career over the years, encompassing television, writing, environmental commitment, and a coherent and quietly radical personal pursuit.
Five years ago, she left Milan to follow a deeper calling: to live in contact with nature. In Lugano, she found a new balance, where time slows down, the landscape breathes, and everyday life is measured in essential gestures. Here, she also created The Footprint, a meeting format which brings to the stage of a theater personalities who have influenced contemporary thought, creating an open dialogue with the audience on life, awareness and change.
Let's start with The Footprint, a new format of meetings with enlightening personalities that you brought to an intimate stage, here in Lugano…
I'm very fond of this format because it stems from a specific need: learning to listen and truly get to know each other. And, even before that, realizing that there are many more good people than we think. Through these meetings, I'm interested in sending a positive signal. For me, there's always a solution. You just have to choose which side you're on: on the problem side, living superficially and detachedly, or on the solution side, fostering empathy, listening, and kindness.
What does being on the solution side mean to you?
It's not always easy, of course. There are times when life seems to leave no room for optimism. But I believe that, no matter what happens, we can choose an inward direction toward happiness. It's a decision that requires self-work, introspection, but also openness to the experiences of others. The guests of The Footprint They played this role in my journey: I've encountered them over the last twenty years through books, documentaries, conferences, and friendships that have developed over time. Their experiences have allowed me to look at reality from different perspectives. Today, it is these people—for me, enlightened—that I bring to the stage, so that they can leave a positive impact on as many people as possible.
Tell me about these people and how they came into your life…
I've known some of them closely, others I've followed for years. When I met Daniela Lucangeli, professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Padua, an expert in learning psychology, involved in literacy and dissemination projects on topics related to neuroscience, learning, psychology, and pedagogy, we were both guests at a TED talk. I was immediately fascinated not only by her professionalism but above all by her approach to young people. I was deeply impressed by her style of discussing dramatic and difficult topics with sensitivity and determination, which helps you understand profound concepts. Today we have a relationship of great respect, direct and affectionate. Massimo Citro della Riva is another important reference, as is Nicolò Covoni with the project Still I Rise, which builds free schools in the world's most challenging contexts, from Africa to the favelas of Brazil. These are people who take concrete action, not just their thoughts. It's through these encounters that I've felt progressively more serene and centered."
There is no one way to happiness: happiness is the way. In your experience, how has choosing happiness become a lifestyle?
«They often ask me: "So you don't suffer anymore?" The answer is simple: of course you suffer. The difficulties, the fears, the fragilities remain. The difference is in how you navigate them. It's how we choose to use what happens to us that makes the difference in our lives and our emotions. Today I experience them with a different awareness: I recognize that often it is the difficulties themselves that become teachers, forcing us to evolve.
And it's beautiful and important to go back to being "grateful" for what we have, but above all to know how to be grateful for the difficulties we encounter because they are the real opportunities for growth.
Every fall is an opportunity. Gratitude has become a daily exercise, increasingly conscious, that brings me back to my heart. It's as if life continually shifts our perspective, bringing us back—sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully—to a more authentic and right direction for us, even if at the time we think it isn't. For me, authenticity has also meant this: not just being a show-off, but allowing myself real experiences, beyond any role. Like when I worked as a waitress in a restaurant in Florence, or when, still very young, I chose to volunteer in a retirement home, where I cared for the poor elderly abandoned there in a profound way I had never experienced before.
A sense of responsibility for the environment and for the protection of animals and vulnerable people has always been present in your life…
«It's instinctive, it's always been part of me, and it's also a family legacy. I took over these social battles from my father (Adriano Celentano) who has always been very sensitive to environmental and social issues, and this has strengthened a predisposition that was already in me. I strongly believe in the value of daily choices. Every consumer gesture supports a system, and therefore even small decisions have a real impact. We have the power to shape the market, but it's a shame that people either don't realize it or don't care, because every time we buy something, of any kind, we "finance" a company. That's why it's crucial to decide who to give our money to. If consumer awareness grows, the market transforms. Nothing is neutral, not even what seems insignificant.
Being vegan is a very concrete way of practicing what you believe in…
For me, it's not just food, but a way of life. It stems from an ethical motivation linked to animals, which has since expanded to include health aspects. I've delved into the topic of intensive farming, its environmental impact, and the consequences of antibiotic use and animal stress. This has made my choices increasingly aligned. For decades, I haven't purchased animal products—clothing, cosmetics, food, or anything else—and I've gradually reduced everything superfluous. It's not about giving up, but about consistency. When what you do aligns with how you feel, everything becomes lighter. And it's nice to fall asleep knowing you've done a good deed, or at least that it hasn't harmed anyone.
You've often spoken about the importance of preventing disease through conscious choices...
I strongly believe that prevention should be given much more importance than treatment. Every day we can take action to avoid illness, through habits and the quality of our internal balance. It's not just a question of diet, but also about the way we think and live. When we develop a gentler attitude toward life—less aggressive, less compulsive—the body responds. Nature also plays a fundamental role: a simple walk in the woods helps our body feel good or heal itself. In Japan, they call it shinrin-yoku, "forest bathing." And then there's the body, which speaks to us: dance, for example, like Argentine tango, has given me so much in terms of listening, presence, and well-being.
Lugano, your new "green" home for five years: here you discovered the power of gratitude...
I've always loved Milan, a city that has given me so much. But at a certain point, I realized it wasn't my place anymore. The call of nature has always been incredibly strong, thanks in part to my years in Brianza and Asiago. The turning point came during the pandemic, when the silence made everything clearer. After wandering through the countryside and mountains for a while, I arrived in Lugano. And here I had an immediate sense of belonging. Nature, the lake, the mountains, but also the quality of life and the kindness in everyday gestures: simple yet profound elements. Here, I learned to greet strangers I pass on the street. It's a slower, more human, more authentic environment. You experience a civic sense that seems to have disappeared elsewhere.
You're a woman of contact and relationships: how do you experience relationships today, at this stage of your life?
Today I experience them more freely and authentically. At a certain point, something profoundly changed. I often say, ironically, that by losing two or three hormones along the way with menopause, I "closed the boutique"... and this led to concrete changes in my life and to letting go of a certain existential model. It wasn't a loss, but a realignment. My body, my emotional perception, my way of being in relationships changed. I simply began to follow my instincts and what I sense and experience. I believe that denying time, and its seasons, is much more tiring than embracing it.
How do you experience the passing of the years in an age that tends to glorify youth?
I experience it as something natural. Time as we know it doesn't exist, and it doesn't stop, and resisting it is a losing battle. If happiness depends on the absence of change, it becomes fragile. I believe, however, that true stability comes from within: from an inner work that doesn't depend on image. When that foundation is solid, time doesn't take away: it layers, adds, clarifies, and ennobles.
Let's end by returning to a very personal project: the book you're writing with your cousin, Alessandra Celentano...
It all came about spontaneously. Alessandra is my cousin; her father was my father's brother. We are very different, but deeply connected on certain values. She lovingly calls me "the shitty enthusiast," and that already says a lot about our personalities. We both live in Lugano, and that makes us very happy because we lived far apart for many years. The idea for the book came from Domenico Liggeri, my TV and Podcast writer, who suggested we compare two complementary visions. We're writing about time, respect, life, and transformation, without filters. And it's the same principle as “The Footprint”: Each of us leaves a mark, whether we want it or not. The real question is: "What mark do you want to leave in your passage through this life?"
