Roberto Bolle: a nude cover, politics, and finishing a career

Italy's Vanity Fair celebrates Roberto Bolle's 20-year career with a cover and a photo shoot by Bruce Weber.

Silvia Nucini talked with the Italian ballet star.

For decades we've been governed by short-sighted politicians. Our strengths are art and culture. I can realise that not everybody can understand that investing in these is something that can uplift the human spirit, but why can't they understand that art and culture can produce wealth. Instead, we hear only about cuts. Here at La Scala we do ballets that guarantee a sold-out theatre, but this limits creativity.

In America the arts are supported by private subsidy, encourage by tax advantages, or because such contributions reflects well on the investor. A mix of the two would seem to be an ideal solution…

Renzi has made many promises, many more than people expected. Maybe he's made them because he is capable of keeping them; let's hope so. Whatever, I'm glad that first with Letta, and now with Renzi, we're finally modernising our political class.

He also talked about the new Eni advertising campaign, directed by Fabrizio Ferri, where he is filmed in slow motion leaping through the air:

In reality, I was jumping on a trampoline. When I was a child I never did it because I was afraid of hurting myself, but on set – with my sister yelling, “Be careful!” – I enjoyed myself like crazy! I was doing what was required of me, and I was doing it as best as I could; in my vocabulary “spare yourself” doesn't exist. Am I afraid of hurting myself? Well, the truth is that it can happen in a thousand ways, even just going down the stairs. A twisted ankle and that's it! This profession can be so ephemeral: years of work can be thrown away in an instant, trivially.

People tell me: “You haven't changed a bit” or “You haven't got big-headed”. I think my parents should take credit for that, but it's also the awareness of the transitoriness of  of all this, knowing that every day, at any moment, it could all finish.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.