Tourists by Chance

The very first trip of the Blady/Roversi duo: Syusy drags a somewhat perplexed Patrizio to India, and together they visit places linked to mysticism such as Puttaparthi, the city of the holy man Sai Baba, or the South of the country dotted with temples. Filmed by the couple as a holiday movie and aired experimentally, it had an excellent response and marked the beginning of the saga of our "Accidental Tourists".

The twinning between the Carnival of Cento and the much more famous one in Rio is the opportunity that Blady and Roversi were waiting for to visit the Brazilian metropolis, where they accompany the delegation of the Emilian town to participate in the carioca parade. In the meantime, they do not miss the beach of Copacabana, the neighborhood of Ipanema, the islands on the coast, the Maracanã stadium or even the favela of Rocinha.

Blady and Roversi's second trip dates back to 1994 and is aimed at Cuba. On the Caribbean island, obviously also a political symbol in the European imagination, the gaze of the two is marked by contrasts, starting from that between official tourism paid in dollars and the economic difficulties experienced by the population: at the time, in fact, the country was experiencing its "período especial", a moment of particular crisis.

Staying on a boat/hotel on the banks of the Nile, following a tourist group Blady and Roversi visit Egypt, from the city of Luxor to the Valley of the Temples, arriving up to the Red Sea. Syusy, however, continually tries to distance herself from the organized trip, to go in search of the legendary book of Toth, origin of Egyptian wisdom.

Blady and Roversi are guided to the discovery of Mexico City by Pino Cacucci and his wife Gloria Corica, great experts on Central America. The capital, where they also meet the writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II, is one of the most populated and polluted metropolises in the world, but also a place full of attractions, from the Plaza of the Three Cultures to the great Museum of Anthropology.

Welcomed by two Italian friends who have settled in Japan, Blady and Roversi land in Tokyo. Patrizio will have the opportunity to ski inside a "ski-dome", take part in a karaoke session and spend an evening in a sadomasochistic club. Syusy will visit a Zen temple and an elementary school, and then meet the inventor of the tamagotchi.

Riding the wave of her passion for tango, Syusy Blady this time leads Patrizio Roversi to Argentina. Giorgio Comaschi and Francesco Guccini will also be leaving with their respective companions. While Comaschi will take Patrizio to the places of Maradona and Boca Juniors, between one dance and another Syusy will take a detour to the Iguazu Falls.

The double adventure of Syusy Blady and Patrizio Roversi continues at their respective latitudes: while in Svalbard Patrizio continues the snowmobile excursion with his other travel companions, in Cape Verde Syusy visits the salt mines and dedicates herself to the nightlife of the tropics. The two will finally meet again in Paris, as if on a second honeymoon.

In the cycle "From the Pole to the Equator" Blady and Roversi take different directions: Syusy heads south, to the Cape Verde archipelago, on the trail of the mythical "fork of Atlantis"; Patrizio instead goes north, to the Svalbard Islands, in the company of a group of runners ready to compete in a stage marathon in the northernmost inhabited lands on the planet.

Blady and Roversi are accompanied to Nepal by Franco Battiato, "our totemic singer", as Patrizio calls him. The final destination of the trip is Tibet, but a visa from the Chinese government is required, to be requested in Kathmandu. Here our heroes visit the temples and markets of the old city, meeting holy men, Ayurvedic doctors and former hippies.

Blady and Roversi's parallel African journeys continue: Patrizio, after a bloodless safari in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi natural park, first goes to a Boer farm and then to a Zulu community; Syusy, following in the footsteps of the 19th-century French explorer René Caillé, finally arrives in the "fabulous" Timbuktu, and then resumes crossing the desert, describing the habits and customs of the Tuareg and Dogon populations.

Blady and Roversi split up again for the series of episodes dedicated to Africa: while Syusy is in Mali, where she visits the city of Djenné and then sets off with her companions on a journey along the Niger River aboard a pirogue, Patrizio is with Irene Grandi in Cape Town, where they explore both the surroundings, characterised by wine production, and the poor suburbs, still marked by the memory of apartheid.