“To him the Scroll of the city”

Thirty-four years have passed since Vasco Rossi’s first concert at San Siro. At the time the artist originally from Zocca, in the Modena area, had not yet turned 40.

Figures that chase each other, like the 36 in which Vasco sang from the stage of the Milanese stadium. Over two million people watched his performances from the stands. And this is why the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, decided to donate the city’s parchment to the Italian rocker. He explains the reasons in a long letter published in the pages of Corriere della Sera where the mayor retraces, even as a fan, the great role that Vasco Rossi played in the panorama of Italian rock music.

The words of the mayor of Milan are inspired by the long interview with Vasco published a few days ago by the Corriere and where the singer spoke about his various facets and experiences of the past, including those of drugs: “Hated by right-thinking people, I was the scapegoat of the 80s”.

“As a Vasco fan I have often thought about the very strong bond between Italy’s most extraordinary rocker and our Milan. Vasco Rossi took to the San Siro stage for the first time in 1990, exactly 34 years ago or 32 days after the starting whistle of Argentina-Cameroon, the match that kicked off our ’90 World Cup, images and emotions that everyone we carry in our hearts. The Meazza had just been adapted for the occasion and, with the works, the third ring was added to increase the capacity and adapt the facility for the great occasion for which Milan had to be ready”.

“But let’s go back to Vasco – continues Sala – Thirty-six times at San Siro it is a truly impressive number and if we multiply this number by 60-70 thousand people, they flash before our eyes two and a half million people, girls, boys and more, which tell decades of moments, dramas, joys and emotions of our country. If one day we could have an image from the stage for each of the times that Vasco enchanted San Siro, we would have a glimpse of almost forty years of history through the many generations that the rocker was able to overwhelm with his energy and his music.” .

“I believe that today – concludes the Lombard mayor – the time has come to return something symbolic, but very significant for Milan, to Vasco Rossi. I therefore decided to award him the City Parchment for his close bond with our Milan and for the artistic merits that have seen him as the protagonist of over fifty years of music and emotions. A more than deserved recognition.”