Aug 10, 2007  VALERIO BARTOLUCCI | COMMENTS     

in his mind. After a while, we had that kind of complicity, which is an essential spice in every relationship.

Did you have a good relationship with the Versace family?

At the beginning, they were studying me. They didn’t know who I was and how long I was going to last. They are basically a family from Southern Italy, so who joins is not really part of the core of the family. I had the illusion for a moment of belonging to the Versace family. Actually, it was only a quiet life together. Gianni did all the work and pushed me into the family. There was no love from the Versace family toward me, except with Donatella’s daughter, Allegra, and the son. I had a deep link with them.

That day, July the 15th…

It was not a day, just a moment, like lightening. I heard the shot, and I ran outside the house. I saw Gianni in a pool of blood. It was like somebody cut me in two parts with an ax. Complete darkness — and this pain in my stomach! Can you imagine? The day before we were in the swimming pool hugging, and he said to me: “You know, Tato, after all these years our relationship is still so solid and beautiful.”

I guess you were like a ghost for a while.

Six years! For six years I passed through deep depression. I tried to put an end to my life forever … there are still moments now of great sadness.

Would you go back to Miami now?

No, definitely not. There would still be too much pressure for me. Too many memories. All this could be overwhelming.

What do you think of the USA in general?

Oh, that’s funny. The first time I went to New York I was, of course, with Gianni, to visit his office there. We were coming from JFK airport and found ourselves traveling through one of the city’s less desirable neighborhoods: filthy streets, tenements and street people. I had the impression that NYC was really an awful place, and I couldn’t wait to return to Italy. Little by little, I learned to understand and love the Big Apple the more I traveled back and forth for work. I remember I used to walk around early in Greenwich Village on my way to the Oscar Wilde Bookstore where I spent a fortune on books that I couldn’t find in Italy.

Are you resentful toward America for what happened?

Oh no! Absolutely not! It’s only that the memories of that fateful day…

Let’s forget that sad moment. Do you remember a time when something funny happened?

So many! Gianni loved to be naked; he was a son of the earth. He would get undressed anytime he could. I remember a vacation in the desert in Morocco. We were all working pitching the tents and preparing the camp. His friend Virginia and he got undressed, took a radio and started walking in the desert, singing. Like that, naked like worms. Gianni was an unconventional and free person. And he knew that his freedom ended when somebody else’s freedom began.

What is your relationship with the Versace family today?

It’s only through lawyers. The day they op