It happens that from a misadventure a great thing is born adventure like “Bella Gianda”. You play soccer, you get injured, you have to change course. You go to an audition for TV, you don't get accepted but someone notices you, and that same someone years later on a beach volleyball court hires you as a radio speaker. It seems like a tall tale, but this is the true story of Michael Casanova, who for more than a decade has enlivened our mornings working as a speaker on Radio3i, also juggling the world of social media with great skill. To brighten up our mornings, the Ticino champion has been waking up before dawn for years: "It's imperative to have breakfast, shower, and read the newspaper to avoid gaffes live. Then I'm ready to go out, because at 6 I'm sitting in front of the microphone." A pace that he manages to maintain thanks to an afternoon nap: "In the evening I should sleep at 22 p.m., but I can never stick to the schedule, so in the afternoon I make up for the missing hours of sleep with a two-hour siesta."
Michael invented success all by himself, studying algorithms, doing experiments, and launching himself into the airwaves, immediately obtaining incredible feedback: «During the pandemic I wanted to find a method to bring young people closer to the radio, and so I invented videos in which I captured the Coronavirus by cleaning the territory from virus particles: it was a crazy boom, with millions of views. But that wasn't my goal».
In what sense?
"In the sense that I had views all over the world, but here no one recognized me because I didn't speak in the videos, so I could have been anyone. So I decided to make videos in which I also used my voice, exposing myself more and proposing checks more tied to the territory. To give you an idea, I started by checking whether there were more fries in a portion of McDonald's or Burger King: the videos went viral immediately".
With his “Bella Gianda” and “Verifichiamo”, Michael has become a character much loved by children, because his work on social media is aimed precisely at them. And, if in Ticino we are a little more reserved, in Italy Michael is stopped on the street, on the beach, at the restaurant, just like a star».
Don't you feel a certain responsibility?
"Yes, in fact I am always kind and helpful with everyone, giving a smile to every child. I have done book signing sessions that lasted more than 8 hours because I did not want to disappoint any child who had spent the day in line. Furthermore, in my book published by Mondadori, I propose challenges that are somehow connected to science, so in addition to entertainment as an end in itself, children learn something by reading it."
With an online shop full of “Bella Gianda” branded gadgets, a busy schedule of events and without ever neglecting his radio work, Michael is aware of the power and effect that social media have on his life and has learned to use them to his advantage, but there is also a slightly melancholic note: «I am aware of being part of the last generation that grew up without social media. My brother and I grew up in the village, in the park, in the countryside, doing a lot of sports, without technological distractions. Things had to be conquered, but now with social media you can get everywhere immediately. Young people lack desire, passion, because they can obtain everything more easily».
Perhaps here, we can reconnect with your sporting career: what did the years spent on the football fields leave you?
"A lot, they shaped my character, they taught me to be independent, and they taught me to lose but still not to give up, not to give up. Life is not easy for anyone, but if you give up at every difficulty thinking you can't do it, everything becomes more difficult. Instead, if you learn to lose and start over, you will always be able to rely on your inner strength, because you will have created a precedent."
Michael Casanova, known to all of us as “Bella Gianda,” is truly a force of nature with a good heart. And there’s no arguing about it: he’s definitely “verified.”
