Sabina Guzzanti (born 25 July 1963) is an Italian

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

, actress, writer, and producer whose work is devoted to examining social and political life in Italy.

Early life

Born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

as the eldest daughter of celebrated Italian

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

and journalist

Paolo Guzzanti Paolo Guzzanti (born 1 August 1940) is an Italian journalist and politician. Early life Born in Rome, Guzzanti is the nephew of Elio Guzzanti and father to actors Corrado, Sabina, and Caterina. As a journalist, he worked for '' Avanti!'', '' ...

(former senator of

Forza Italia (FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...

, incumbent deputy and deputy secretary for

Italian Liberal Party The Italian Liberal Party (, PLI) was a liberal political party in Italy. The PLI, which was heir to the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor party after World War II, but also a frequent junio ...

), she graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts of Rome.Biography
on Leonardo.it Her first appearances on stage were at the side of her brother Corrado, also a skilled

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

writer and actor. Since 1987, Sabina Guzzanti has practiced

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism (), also known as ''Hokkeshū'' (, meaning ''Lotus Sect''), is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the Kamakura period school ...

as a member of the global Buddhist association

Soka Gakkai International Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is an international Nichiren Buddhist organization founded in 1975 by Daisaku Ikeda, as an umbrella organization of Soka Gakkai. It is run by two vice-presidents, including Hiromasa Ikeda, son of the founder. It c ...

Career

Guzzanti's career began when she took part in a series of successful television comedy formats such as ''Proffimamente... non-stop'' (directed by Enzo Trapani), ''L'araba fenice'' (directed by Antonio Ricci), ''La TV delle ragazze'' and ''Scusate l'interruzione'';Profile
on

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

's website - Cinema section. her imitations of the famous Italian porn star

Moana Pozzi Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (; 27 April 1961 – 15 September 1994), also known mononymously as Moana, was an Italian pornographic actress, television personality and politician. Early life Pozzi was born in Genoa, Italy, the daughter of Alfredo Po ...

gave her popularity, and the Italian film director

Giuseppe Bertolucci Giuseppe Bertolucci (27 February 1947 – 16 June 2012) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He directed 26 films between 1972 and 2012. He was the younger brother of Bernardo Bertolucci. Selected filmography * ''Berlinguer, I Lov ...

recruited her to star in his film '' The Camels'' (''I Cammelli''). Her career in this period was at its apex, as she starred in several films, toured Italian theatres with her own comedy shows (such as ''Con fervido zelo'' in 1991, and ''Non io: Sabina e le altre'' in 1994), and even held her one-woman show ''La posta del cuore''. Her first attempt at directing is the 1998 short ''Donna selvaggia''. In 2001, she participated to the

alter-globalization Alter-globalization (also known as alter-globo, alternative globalization or alter-mundialization—from the French alter- mondialisation) is a social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and interaction, but oppose what they desc ...

demonstrations against the G8 in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, while impersonating

Oriana Fallaci Oriana Fallaci (; 29 June 1929 – 15 September 2006) was an Italian journalist and author. A member of the Italian resistance movement during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for h ...

, a prominent Italian journalist who was very critical of the movement. Since Fallaci was ill at the time, Guzzanti's impersonation was received with controversy. In November 2003 Sabina Guzzanti wrote, directed and was featured in the first and only installment of ''Raiot'', a late-night TV political satire show broadcast on

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

. After lampooning Italian Prime Minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

, she was sued by Berlusconi's

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

lawyers (notably

Cesare Previti Cesare Previti (born 21 October 1934 in Reggio Calabria) is a former Italian politician, disbarred lawyer, and convicted criminal. Along with Marcello Dell'Utri, he was a close friend and right-hand of Silvio Berlusconi and founder of Forza Ital ...

's law firm) for "lies and insinuation" and the show was pulled amid controversy; in the suing document Previti defined satire as "that thing which tends to minimize and to make a politician likeable, to diminish the social tensions" ("''quella cosa che tende a sdrammatizzare e a rendere simpatico un politico, a diminuire le tensioni sociali''"Interview with Sabina Guzzanti
excerpt from an article of L'Unità) as the basis to accuse the show of not being satirical but a direct political attack. As a form of protest, the second instalment was recorded live in the Auditorium of Rome and broadcast by independent television networks; during the event among others Dario Fo,

Beppe Grillo Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, Blogger (person), blogger, and politician. He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Fi ...

and Daniele Luttazzi gave her their support. After that Sabina Guzzanti announced that the only official instalment of ''Raiot'' had completely vanished from the RAI's archives. As a form of protest against the censorship imposed on ''Raiot'', Sabina Guzzanti shot her side of the story in the film '' Viva Zapatero'' (2005) in which she condemns the lack of freedom of expression in Italy. ''Viva Zapatero!'' premiered at

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

and was met with acclaim. The movie has also been invited to screen at a number of other International Film Festival: Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and San Sebastian. At the end of 2005 she was once again allowed on television to feature in the last installment of

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, showman, and filmmaker. He is dubbed ''Il Molleggiato'' ('the springy one') because of his energetic dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both com ...

's show ''Rockpolitik'', but the producers "forbade" her to speak about Berlusconi. After the victory of The Union in the 2006 elections and the progressive fading of Berlusconi's influence on the RAI, she declared she still wouldn't return to work at the RAI unless serious reforms were launched to make the company's management independent from the politicians.La Guzzanti: non tornerò in una Rai lottizzata dall’Unione
interview with Paolo Conti for

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

In 2007 she direct her second movie, ''

Sympathy for the Lobster ''Sympathy for the Lobster'' () is a 2007 Italian mockumentary film written, directed and starred by Sabina Guzzanti. The film premiered out of competition at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Cast *Sabina Guzzanti *Pierfrancesco Lo ...

(Le Ragioni dell’Aragosta),'' a comedy which featured the comedians from ''Avanzi'', a popular political satire show much in vogue in the early nineties. In July 2008, during a demonstration against Silvio Berlusconi Government at

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the 1st century AD Stadium of Domitian and follows the form of the open space of the stadium in an elongated oval. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' a ...

, Rome, Guzzanti made controversial remarks against the then Minister of Equal Opportunity Mara Carfagna and the

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. She was not prosecuted for her speech against the Pope, while she was condemned for

slander Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...

concerning Carfagna.Sabina Guzzanti, la Carfagna chiede un milione di danni. L'attrice: «Bella donna ma che tariffe»
Il Messaggero, 9 October 2008Sabina Guzzanti diffamò Mara Carfagna L'attrice costretta a pagare 40mila euro
il Corriere del Mezzogiorno, 9 October 2012 After these events Guzzanti explained her side of the story in the theatrical drama ''Vilipendio!.'' In 2010 her third featured film, ''Draquila. Italy Trembles ( Draquila)'', was screened out of competition at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. It's a report of the events tied to the earthquake in L'Aquila. In 2011 Guzzanti directs ''Franca la Prima'', her personal homage to an important actress in Italy, Franca Valeri. During the same year Guzzanti was back on the stage with ''Sì, Sì, Sì….oh Sì!'', a humorous voyage through Italy's most important personalities from both the social and political sphere. In March 2012 Guzzanti returned to TV with a new show, ''Un due tre…Stella!'' on La7. In 2014, her last featured film, '' The State-Mafia Pact'' (''La trattativa''), was screened at the 71st

. It's a reconstruction of one of the dark periods of Italian history: the

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...

between Italian State and

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protect ...

during the 90s and its effect on democracy. In the summer of 2015 Guzzanti starred in a new project, a web news satire called ''TG Porco'' which was financed by crowdfunding. In the same year she returned to the theatre once again with her show ''Come ne venimmo fuori. Proiezioni dal futuro'', a satiric monologue on the post-capitalist and neo-liberal policies.

Criticism

Sabina Guzzanti is accused by various actors, politicians and writers of "aggression" against certain figures, mainly

and his supporters. In 2001 her impersonation of journalist

, who had

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

at the time, was met with controversy. During the

demonstrations, Guzzanti-Fallaci was giving a speech ridiculing what she considered to be Fallaci's hypocrisy, when a man in the crowd shouted "May you as well get a cancer" (''Che ti venga un cancro''), and Guzzanti reply "I also already have it; and may it come to your mother too" (''Ce l'ho già e venisse anche alla tua mamma''). Since Fallaci herself replied to this sketch,Botta e risposta Guzzanti-Mentana finisce a 'peace and love'
/ref> Guzzanti clarified that the monologue's content "was about Fallaci's positions on Islam and obviously did not concern her illness". In 2008 she was accused of public

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

against

and of

of the then Minister of Equal Opportunity Mara Carfagna. She said that

would be dead in 20 years and would end up in hell as punishment for the Church's treatment of homosexuals, so he would be "tormented by big demons – and very (sexually) active ones". She also accused Mara Carfagna of fellating Silvio Berlusconi in order to become Minister. Although threatened with punishments of up to five years in prison for these comments, she was not prosecuted, while she was condemned for slander against Carfagna. After the scandal of the alleged "Madoff of Parioli", Sabina Guzzanti admitted to having given money to investors, as well. Aware of having been a victim of a scam, she said that she "felt like an idiot", claiming to have put in 150,000 €. Such revelation sparked another series of controversies, since during her speeches and her shows, she had always declared her opposition to this kind of practice, deemed typical of tax evaders. Guzzanti would have received – had everything gone as promised – earnings on her investments abroad, then exempt from taxation, within Italy itself.I rivoluzionari adessocadono sulla pensione
Il Giornale, 1 February 2012

Works

Films

*'' La trattativa'', directed, written and produced by Sabina Guzzanti, 2014 *''Franca, la prima'', directed and written by Sabina Guzzanti, 2011 *'' Draquila – L'Italia che trema'', directed, written and produced by Sabina Guzzanti, 2010 *'' Le ragioni dell'aragosta'', directed by Sabina Guzzanti, 2007 *''

Viva Zapatero! ''Viva Zapatero!'' is a 2005 documentary by Sabina Guzzanti telling her side of the story regarding the conflict with Silvio Berlusconi over a late-night TV political satire show broadcast on Rai 3. The show, ''RAIot'' (a play on the name of the ...

'', directed, written and produced by Sabina Guzzanti, 2005 *'' Bimba'', directed and written by Sabina Guzzanti, 2002 *''Cuba Libre - Velocipedi ai tropici'', directed by David Riondino, 1997 *''Troppo sole'', directed by

, written by Sabina Guzzanti, 1994 *''La cattedra'', directed by Michele Sordillo, 1991 *''Affetti speciali'', directed by Felice Farina, 1989 *''Night club'', directed by

Sergio Corbucci Sergio Corbucci (; 6 December 1926 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He was one of the main exponents of the Spaghetti Western genre during the 1960s and 1970s, with his most notable work ...

, 1989 *'' The Camels'', directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, 1988 *''

I ragazzi di via Panisperna ' (''Via Panisperna Boys'') is an Italian movie by director Gianni Amelio, telling the enthusiasms, fears, joys and disappointments of the (private and professional) life of a well-known group of young men fond of physics and mathematics, who ...

'', directed by Gianni Amelio, 1988 *''Spin Time - Che fatica la democrazia!'', directed and written by Sabina Guzzanti, 2021

Books

*''Reperto RaiOt.'', published by BUR Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2005 *''Viva Zapatero!'', published by BUR Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2005 *''Il diario di Sabna Guzz'', published by Einaudi, 2003 *''Mi consenta una riflessione (anche se non è il mio ramo)'', published by Baldini Castoldi Dalai, 2002 *''2119. La disfatta dei Sapiens'', Harper Collins Italia, 2021 *''ANonniMus. Vecchi rivoluzionari contro giovani robot, Harper Collins Italia, 2023''

References

External links

*
Website in ItalianPress Conference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzzanti, Sabina 1963 births Living people Actresses from Rome Italian women comedians Freedom of expression Italian satirists Italian women satirists Italian television show creators Italian satirical television show creators Members of Sōka Gakkai Italian Nichiren Buddhists Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico alumni 20th-century Italian actresses 21st-century Italian actresses Italian film directors Italian women film directors Italian screenwriters Italian women screenwriters Italian documentary filmmakers Italian film producers Italian women film producers Former Roman Catholics Italian women satirists Women documentary filmmakers Comedians from Rome 20th-century Italian Buddhists 21st-century Italian Buddhists