Meeting with Mike Bongiorno. De rigueur, in this gallery of characters, since he is an authentic star and a true pipe smoker. The meeting began in a studio at the Milan Fair, during the rehearsals of “Giochi in famiglia” and continued in an all too quiet restaurant. At work, Mike is tough, and you already know this, he thaws out during dinner, he talks willingly, but the relaxation is only apparent, you can understand it, the words and statements are weighed and controlled, even if the...

Here we are, Mr. Rascel. And let's start from the beginning. So, obviously she also started smoking a pipe because cigarettes crack her voice and so it was necessary to remedy this...". "No. Just for nothing." We didn't expect this. The national "little guy" had kindly received me in the dressing room of the Milanese theater where he performed "The Odd Couple" with extraordinary success; he was as usual kind and affable; from the shelf of greasepaints and creams, wonderful "flamed" pipes...

Who doesn't know him? He is Lee Van Cleef, the "bad guy" of Italian westerns. Pipe-smoking spectators will certainly not have missed the fact that the good actor always smokes a nice bent Peterson. After playing the role of the Colonel in the film “For a Few Dollars More” and Sergeant Sentenza in “The Bad, the Good and the Ugly”, ...

The Pipe Club, June 1967. Now I'll tell you how my meeting with George Simenon went, and I already know that you won't believe me because it seems like something out of the fantasy of "Maigret's father", instead of an event that happened seriously: but I have a clear conscience, because I limit myself to writing the pure truth, and then I have plenty of witnesses (the photographers of Farabola and the Associated Press), as well as the tape recording of everything that in that 'occasion it was...

The Pipe Club, 1966. Another character in our small gallery of those who, having "a treasure in their voice", also defend it by avoiding cigarettes (much more dangerous) and relying on their pipe friend. This is Cesare Polacco. For those who, as soon as they hear his name and see the photo, exclaim "Ah, yes, it's Inspector Rock from Caroselli!" and here they stop, a clarification is needed. Because Cesare Polacco is, above all, one of the best, most intelligent and prepared actors in our...

The Pipe Club, 1968. At the beginning of March last year, the authoritative American weekly Time dedicated its cover to him, which is usually reserved for the consecration of the success of figures in art, cinema, literature, politics or publishing. Inside, the "weekly magazine" from across the Atlantic developed its "cover story" discourse, giving a lot of space to his company, which today has a "turnover" of many millions of dollars. An ultra-modern, ultra-pop sculpture depicts him with his...

The Pipe Club, 1968. Is there anything that can represent speed, power, adventure more than a thundering missile? And is there anything that, more than a pipe, can bring to mind rest, relaxation, tranquility? The two things seem irreconcilable. And yet, precisely from the most advanced astronautical techniques, something is born that brings new merit to our faithful friend and allows us pipe makers to score a point against the desecrated cigarettes. And let's see how. During the experiments...

THE PIPE CLUB – MARCH 1969. Every country has its habits and its idols, agreed. And many times it is difficult to find analogies between them. A phenomenon, however, is common to both Italy and England: we are talking about pipomania. In Great Britain people have always smoked a pipe, so much so that it is practically impossible to think of a self-respecting Englishman without forcing him to elegantly hold an umbrella in his hand, a dark bowler hat on his head and a nonchalantly between his...