Marco Ierva - A Man of Many Names and Many Talents

Ciao a tutti,

Through my friend Marco Missinato I had the pleasure of meeting another Marco, in this case Marco Ierva. I had heard from my friend Marco that he was a man of many talents and was quite the man about town in Italy, more specifically Rome.

Fortunately I didn't just get to meet him, but actually got to know him by being able to spend some time with him during his recent stay here in Los Angeles. I love to speak Italian and to learn more about Italy any chance I get. So to be able to share this kind of time with a man who has done so much in Italy in so many fields was such a pleasure because we could talk about so many things, not to mention he is a really great guy.

In the end, I just had to interview him for the Filippo and the Chef radio show and have him share with our radio audience some of the interesting stories and experiences he shared with me.

The reason I titled this post "A Man of Many Names and Many Talents" is because the night before the interview I did my due diligence and went on the Internet to learn more about Marco so I would be better prepared for the interview. I was surprised to learn that for someone who had done so much, all of which I had believed was true, and was verified by many others that knew him from Italy, there was so little about him on the net.

I didn't quite know how to say this to him when I saw him the next day for the interview. But I found a way to tactfully broach the subject. He knew where I was going right away and laughed. Afterwards he told me that he used to go by the name Iervasutti, and that I would find much more information about him under that name.

But even better than that. Since his name starts with the letter "i," it is some times misread as a "j" and therefore both his names, "Ierva" and "Iervasutti" have been misspelled as "Jerva" and "Jervasutti" many times. The next thing I know we are on the Internet together proving his point. And right he was. He was everywhere under all those names.

He was listed as the winner of a singing competition as a young child in a rock band. I found listings of his winning the European equivalent of "Most Valuable Player," in the field of Water Polo (Pallanuoto). This of course meant that he was one of the top players in his day and the one that all the girls used to chase after and the one who had everyone wanting to be his friend. In Italy, that must be a fun life to live, even if it is only for a few years.

Of course, now that he is a husband and father he might not think about all that anymore. Nevertheless, I think about those things, he, he. Lets see, I didn't find listings of him as a husband and father but I found listings of him as an actor, a dance choreographer, a Physical Ed Teacher, a coach for the Italian Olympic synchronized swimming team, play writer, dancer, and the list goes on. This was big stuff, not just local theater but nationally televised stuff.

The thing that impressed me the most were the many articles that referred to him as a person who cared about people. For example he was the Stage Director for a theater event called "Sirene Per Una Notte," (Sirens For A Night), and as part of it he used a sign language translator. This had never been done for a national and televised event of this nature. One article praised his insistence on not wanting to leave anyone out and to be able to communicate with as many people as he could, including the deaf.

The article that got my attention in another respect was about his recent Artistic Directing of the Internationally televised "Ali della Vittoria" (Wings of Victory), which is like the "Oscars" of Soccer. And you know that in Italy a Gala night like that is the biggest night of the year, second only to the soccer championships themselves. And he was the Director.

Evidently, he is up for that honor again this year and I told him that when he gets it to let me know so I can book my ticket early. I want to go and interview all the best loved soccer players that those of us that are into it get to watch play their hearts out game after game. You know which ones I am talking about, and Marco knows all of them.

At any rate, the interview came out great. His English was good enough to understand and rough enough to make it exciting and keep you on your toes. Evidently, my Italian is like that too, at least so I am told by people in the know. We had a fun and interesting time together to say the least and I look forward to seeing him here or in Italy soon.

If nothing else, Marco, "see you at the 'Oscars!'"

A presto,

Filippo

P.S. The pictures above are of Marco Ierva and myself, of Ierva with Marco Missinato, and of the two of us with Ornella, a mutual friend visiting from Italy, at a get together at my place. And speaking of a man of many talents introducing new things to theater, here is a new piece of theater structured by Italians and performed by Italians, in a way that I have never seen done before. It is using multi-media, mainly comic strip type visuals and live actors as characters. (In English)