in two and a half years he bought paintings for 3 million»- Corriere.it

And to think that at first that particular customer wasn’t even taken seriously. «It was 2018 if I’m not mistaken and, like every evening, I was live from 9 to 1. The program includes a kind of auction: I exhibit the paintings and people decide how much they want to spend and give themselves a roof over themselves». The story is by Alessandro Orlando, if his name may not sound familiar surely his face is more than well known: whoever hasn’t stumbled upon his nocturnal sales of paintings of all types and sizes which for thirty years have made him a character in the local TV stations throughout Italy, so much so as to be one of the inspirers of a famous character by Corrado Guzzanti. Here, if during the zapping you have been watching, know that many, many, call and buy. And one of these was former premier Silvio Berlusconi who died last Monday. Orlando continues the story of how it all began: «That evening in the main space there was a painting by a painter from the workshop of the Flemish Antoon van Dyck. A Madonna with Child and we had arrived at around 45,000 euros. One of my switchboard operators receives a call from a gentleman who says “I’m Berlusconi, I’m offering 50,000”. He replied “and I am Napoleon” and hung up». But the tele-customer does not give up: «He called back, the number was private and was liquidated».

«A few minutes and he calls a cell phone, a collaborator – who we later discovered to be Marta Fascina – said that she was actually calling from President Berlusconi who really wanted to make an offer for the painting. In the studio they started gesturing and then they told me off camera that maybe it was really him». In the end, Berlusconi won that painting for 62,000 euros. «We called again for the delivery details and he himself answered arranging to bring the work to Arcore on the following Monday. With 30 years of TV and a certain notoriety I was still thinking of half a joke but in the end I went. I had the security service announce me at the gate: “I am Alessandro Orlando from the Orlando gallery”. “Please have a seat”. No, it wasn’t a joke.”

In a sitting room the meeting with Berlusconi: «He showered me with compliments, told me that I was the greatest salesman in Italy. He’s been following me for years.”. Was the purchase an isolated whim of a night in front of the TV? Quite the opposite, explains Orlando: “That was followed by another 25 visits. Villa San Martino, but also Villa Germetto over the years: well, he bought 2,500 paintings from me in 2 and a half years». If the number is impressive, so is the total amount paid by Berlusconi for his purchases. “You’ll have spent around 3 million euros with me,” he says without hesitation. From him, because it seems that TV purchases didn’t stop at those paintings. But their relationship became special: «It lasted more or less two and a half years, until Covid – he says – Almost every night he tuned in and literally emptied my walls, with lots of other loyal customers who complained. He was a curious customer, he asked, he even trusted me a lot, he asked me for advice ».

But what’s in those repetitively bought canvases? Everything according to Orlando: «Things of a certain value, but also of lesser value. Many sacred subjects but also female nudes and a large collection of over a thousand Russian artists: he wanted to give them to Putin, he had them all authenticated (700 euros each, just this document), then changed his mind: “Alessandro, I’ve decided that I’ll keep them to myself,” he told me. Like many entrepreneurs, he only went for antiques because he knew that compared to the contemporary and the modern, whose investment value is much more complicated, the antique never betrays. Of course, however, he then had his own particular way of managing auctions: when he decided he wanted a painting, he gave an order to the switchboard operator that it had to be his, so whoever offered any amount he was determined to outbid».

Two and a half years of assiduous visits, of visits to the residences by Orlando, but also by Berlusconi himself in the Brescia gallery: «He arrived with Marta Fascina, all the escort and the dogs too. His doctors recommended that I avoid offering pastries to the president. An unexpectedly intimate relationship, which then rarefied due to Covid when he went to the French Riviera: he was affectionate with me, regardless of the fact that he spent a lot ».

In the last two years the thread had been interrupted, but on Monday when the news of the ex prime minister’s disappearance arrived, those memories resurfaced: «The first thing I thought of when I received the news was the way he looked at the paintings, with incredible love, with great attention. And then one more thing. Thinking of the care he took, of the passion for the works he bought, I wondered what will become of that collection now ».

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