What would he have done if he had only lost his agenda, what would have happened to him? F for Fidel (or under C for Castro?), M for Maradona (or under D for Diego Armando?) and for Mennea, P for Pantani… His agenda spanned from football to cycling, from sports to politics, from cinema to literature. And he would call, make appointments, fly. Or he would ask, slip in, find a way. He never despaired, never gave up, giving the impression that the more difficult the contact, the more he enjoyed reaching it and making it happen. Gianni Minà's agenda deserves at least an exhibition, if not a documentary, a comedy, a fairy tale.

Among "The 4 Gianni" (by Giuseppe Smorto, Minerva, 234 pages, 18 euros) who passed through "Repubblica", Gianni Minà was the least print-oriented and the most television-savvy, in any case the Gianni with the richest and most enviable agenda. Smorto: "His agenda is a mine of stories told a thousand times over, the sketch by Troisi who says: 'I come after the Taviani brothers, Little Tony and Toquinho'". Who knows if he also had Nelson Mandela's phone number: "As for interviews – Minà confessed to Smorto -, I have only one regret: not having spoken with Nelson Mandela. And it was a small sin of mine, a postponement. In these cases you must seize the opportunity on the fly, never ask for more time". In my opinion, he had it.

That time when Minà introduced writer Osvaldo Soriano to Argentina's training camp and Maradona started juggling an orange "in their honor". That time when Maradona, after winning the semifinal in Naples against Italy at the 1990 World Cup, decided to speak only with Minà, hid in the massage room, started juggling a bar of soap, they carried him bodily under the shower. And the day Maradona died, Minà was at the cardiologist for a check-up on his four stents, he found a message on his cell phone from Diego who, breathlessly, whispered to him "Gianni, call me".

When Minà, speaking about journalism, said: "By now we depend on accountants. Instead of improving we've gone backwards, it's a shame for our children. Journalists don't want to leave the system: but if you want to do the job well, you have to displease those who are most powerful in human society".

That time when - Smorto only hints at it and refers to bloooog.it by Fabrizio Bocca, also at the Sports section of "Repubblica" – Minà "organized a dinner in Trastevere at Checco er Carrettiere on the same evening with Muhammad Ali, Robert De Niro, Sergio Leone and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, recounting everything with such disarming simplicity that made that encounter even more grand and epic. And each time that story would be enriched with a detail that made it increasingly surreal. In short: 'I was at home with Muhammad Ali and Robert De Niro calls me. I tell him I'm going to dinner with Muhammad, and he, like, you're going to dinner with Ali and you don't tell me? No, I'm coming with you. Then Sergio Leone calls me and says: look, De Niro can't come to dinner with you tonight, we have an important meeting for the film. But I have nothing to do with it, I was going to dinner with Muhammad, it's Bob who said he wants to come. Ali? You're going to dinner with Ali? Then I'm coming too. Then while we're about to leave Garcia Marquez calls and tells me: I was really supposed to go to dinner with Leone, but he told me you're coming with him, so at this point I'm coming with you… Alright, come, come".

Smorto writes that "knowing how to listen, knowing how to remember" was Minà's life. He, as if nothing were the matter, would say: "I met Bob Dylan, and it comes to mind that it was May first. But Chico Buarque is better than him, only he's South American". Vamos.

(end of the fourth installment – to be continued)

the first installment: https://www.tuttobiciweb.it/article/1776236004

the second installment: https://www.tuttobiciweb.it/article/2026/04/16/1776238325/gianni-brera-ciclismo-storia-del-giornalismo-fausto-coppi-hugo-koblet

the third installment: https://www.tuttobiciweb.it/article/2026/04/17/1776375420/gianni-clerici-giornalismo-sportivo-tennis-ciclismo-storia-dello-sport