What would you give to be nineteen with the whole world before you?
Have you ever considered the life of Italy’s first professional surfer? It’s more than just barrels, breasts and wine. Maybe!
Leo Fioravanti achieved two childhood dreams this year by qualifying for the CT and giving Slater the ol’ Roman Candle not once but twice! Not bad for a nineteen-year-old Italian kid.
Despite his competitive successes, many have criticized Leo’s road to fame, claiming he’s just a rich Italian kid who was sent around the world and molded into a top athlete. To these people I say two things: 1. You don’t get to choose your socioeconomic standing nor nationality and 2. There is no such thing as molding a top athlete. Glen Hall could have surfed forty hours a week since his third birthday, split his time between the North Shore and Indo, and have been coached by an older, wiser version of himself, and he’d still never be able to crack the top ten. Practice and opportunity make the CT, but natural ability is what separates the Slaters from the Durbidges. In short time we’ll know where Leo falls.
The trailer for Leo’s documentary, Ride to the Roots, is as vague in name as it is in description. From what I gather it will be the story of his life and lineage, which is to say, the story of a rich Italian kid who was sent around the world and molded into a top athlete. Being that he’s nineteen and has had only one major setback in his life, this film will likely not be revolutionary in nature, but rather a nationalistic pat on the back to a surf-starved, pasta-bloated Mediterranean peoples.
If for no other reason, watch because Leo won Surfing Mag‘s Lady Killer award in this year’s Peer Poll. Insert Italian Stallion joke here.
puke production. industry guff. mike said only a grade stuff. this is y.
Why do you use Durbo as an example in this “article”?
That fucken sucks!
Give him a break guys. The kids had a hard life, surfing everyday. It wasn’t always easy, sometimes it was sloppy and onshore. Other times it was epic hollow barrels that would pinch right at the end. But he never gave up, he never turned down a free surf trip to the Ments or Hawaii….
Ugh so sick of these over-produced dross hero stories. Go do some tricks and flog some products for cash by all means, but don’t go pretending it’s some sort of spiritual experience that everyone can learn a lesson from. Not everyone wants to be a dancing monkey in the circus.
Manufactured talent.mayb not as robotic as Ben Dunn. But something seems the same to me?
Time will tell
ben dunn was ugly and nobody ever cared about him
yeah an the media kinda shoved him in our face too.
leo’s style is better fsure. still he just seems like this product of the surf industry machine
first of fucking all he learned to stand up in italy.. then got good in france and other places. You think kelly and cj are the best barrel riders in the world cuz they’re from cocoa beach? Fucking cool it with the italian shit. Don’t get me wrong he rips but I will shoot myself if I hear another person talk about how good he got surfing in italy
#firemichaelcuntamella
italy has better surf than florida and half the east coast-true
I’m calling bullshit on this Leo guy having an advantage over his peers on the surf front! JJF couldn’t have had a better set up growing up (surfwise) and I could name dozens more famous surfers that grew up in San Clemente or the Gold Coast. Nobody takes cheap shots at them, but hang on there is an Italian kid who has made the tour… Fair fucks to this fella, always good to see someone coming from some place new on tour! Rant over! I’m not going to watch this trailer though, never mind the film!