My Father’s Journey as Italy’s Beloved Vet

I’m sitting in Florence having just had lunch (una Parmigiana di Melanzane since you ask) and my clients are on free time before we meet up later for our visit to a Chianti vineyard for wine-tasting and dinner. The weather has been a bit wet today, but there are breaks and sunshine intermittently so I’m sitting outside and typing this on the restaurant WiFi. In front of me is the church of Santa Maria Novella and the Piazza in front is teaming with well-dressed Italians and less well-dressed tourists… and Priests, Nuns, Dogs, schoolchildren, motor scooters, babies and hawkers selling umbrellas (price goes up when the rains starts). In short, the noisy chaos that is the charm of day-to-day Italian life.

By the time you read this, it will be my Birthday (probably – it’s on 22/05). It seems that pretty much every year I’m away from home working on Tour for my Birthday, but I don’t mind one bit. It goes with the territory and that’s just how it is. I know that my wife snuck a card into my suitcase to be opened on the happy day and that’s great for me. I don’t usually tell my clients until very late in the evening. I did once and learned my lesson. They all insisted on buying me drinks and there were 30 of them. Things got a little hazy and eventually I realised that lying under a table looking up at them was likely to be career-limiting in some small way.

Since I’m in Italy I thought that for once I’d make a personal post and tell you a story about my Father and how his face became one of the best known in Italy; by accident.

My Father passed away 3 years ago, and I miss him. He was an actor, amongst other things. You won’t know him so you can step away from Google. He was a kind, quiet and very gentle man, which, as you will know if you’ve ever met actors and actresses, are attributes that are uncommon.

For actors, TV commercials are the very best kind of work. Filming usually takes only 4 or 5 days, there’s very little script to learn and frequently you get paid a small amount every time the commercial is shown. Good money, a short work run and not too much hard work.

In 1981, my Father received a phone call from his Agent. “I’ve got a job for you Mike, and it’s a TV commercial”. This was on of those “resting” periods for my Father, with not as much work around as he would have liked so he was pleased with the offer.

“Tell me more” he said “… and what is the role?”

“Well Mike, It’s filming in Italy, and they want you to be… a Veg”

Not exactly King Lear, and there was a pause. Both parties assumed that this would involve something like dressing up in a carrot suit and dancing around a bubbling pot of soup, or similar. It seemed strange that he should be offered work as an Italian “Vegetable”, but never look a gift horse in the mouth, and so off he went.

The Italian company flew him over in Business Class and he was met at the airport by a Limo that whisked him off to rather a good hotel. This was surprising for a potential carrot, but they must do things differently in Italy. Don’t ask questions.

The next morning, he was driven into the mountains on location. On arrival he introduced himself and asked for his Vegetable costume and a script outline. There was another pause, followed by a much rapid Italian chatter.

“No Signore… You are to be… A Vet…”

The commercial was for an Italian alcoholic beverage named Amaro Montenegro. My Father was to be a country Vet. In the opening scene, a worried farmer looks at a horse that is clearly unwell. What to do? Aaaah! I must phone for the Vet. My father answers the call, jumps aboard his vintage rustic motorcycle and rides over the hills to the farmer. They look at the horse and shake their heads in concern. My Father wipes his brow and sets to work. A Miracle! The horse is better, leaps to its’ feet (hooves?) and canters off into the sunset. Farmer and Vet shake hands. A good result. We must celebrate this together. How? With a glass of Amaro Montenegro, of course. Raise the glass and toast each other. End Credits and Logo. Happy Days!

And so it went. What nobody realised was that the TV Commercial would become the biggest hit of the year and the Vet became famous, touching some nerve in the Italian psyche and boosting sales of Amaro Montenegro in an impressive way.

The next year, my Father was asked back to Italy to reprise his role, but with a different animal. It was a dog, and the next time some sort of mountain goat, then a hawk and finally, absurdly, another dog that had to be transported to him by aircraft. During his time in Italy away from filming, people stopped him in the street for autographs. They bought him drinks, took photos and slapped him on the back as a friend. “Aaaaah! Fantastico! It is the Amaro Montenegro Vet! Come here and meet him”.

It was a non-speaking role. My Father didn’t speak a word of Italian. This was awkward. He got very good at smiling politely and making rapid exit during the 5 years that he was an Italian celebrity.

He was eventually replaced when they re-branded. The new Vet wasn’t a Vet but a sort of Italian James Bond figure who zip-lined in to deliver Amaro Montenegro to grateful but semi-clothed women. Advertising is a brutal world.

Here’s the thing. I have the video of the TV commercial on my phone, and anybody over the age of 50 in Italy knows it well. Many times I have shown it to Italians (usually the Barman it has to be said) and they remember. I tell them this was my father…

“No! No! Suo Padre, Your Father? Incredibile! Antonio, vieni subito qui – Come here quick! Look at this! Questo era duo Padre. It was his Father” and so on. Then, of course, we must celebrate this. How? With a glass of Amaro Montenegro, naturally.

I’ve had more small glasses of Amaro Montenegro than I can recall, and here’s the problem – It is absolute Filth. I hate the stuff. It took me 10 years to summon up the courage to say “Actually, how about we celebrate with a small Whisky?” Which didn’t make me many friends but so it goes. They understand. I’m English, which means that I do weird things that Italians wouldn’t.

So there we go. It still works. I tried it on our coach driver today and he followed the script. You can try it too – “I know the man, who knows the man who was the vet… etc.”. But you may have to drink the result. Sorry.

Here’s a Video of all his commercials – Enjoy!