The latest episode of the Italian talk show “C’è Posta per Te” – hosted by Maria De Filippi – featured a range of emotionally charged stories, from fraught family dynamics to the complexities of betrayal and forgiveness. This installment also included an unexpected appearance by the cast of the Turkish drama “La Forza di una Donna,” and a moving moment for new mother Alessandra Amoroso. The program’s signature format, delivering sealed letters and facilitating reunions, once again provided a platform for intensely personal narratives and dramatic confrontations.
The latest installment of Maria De Filippi’s talk show featured irreconcilable differences between parents and children, alongside a surprising twist in a cheating scandal where the unfaithful party almost had a point. As a special treat, the cast of the Turkish soap opera La forza di una donna – Feyyaz Duman, Ahu Yagtu, and Caner Cindoruk – made an appearance. And rounding out the episode, new mom Alessandra Amoroso received a special envelope. Here’s a look at who came out on top and who didn’t.
For Patrick and Lola, love is a gas chamber: Grade 2
Table of Contents
- For Patrick and Lola, love is a gas chamber: Grade 2
- Dad Leo is “good but not a man of action” (and unfortunately has two ungrateful daughters): Grade 9
- Alessandro won’t forgive his mother, and has ‘replaced’ her without regret: Grade 0
- Alessandra Amoroso ‘reads eyes’ and, as a new mom, gets emotional: Grade 8
- Mom Sabrina’s story didn’t need the Turkish actors to tell ‘The Strength of a Woman’: Grade 5
Patrick enters the studio, a picture of desperation. It’s immediately clear he’s done something serious to lose Lola, a rare sight of a man so visibly upset without a guilty conscience.
But appearances can be deceiving. Through Maria De Filippi’s summary, we learn their eight-year relationship was, from the start, a toxic environment. “She is very insecure and often became jealous,” she explains, setting the stage for a series of controlling behaviors. He wasn’t allowed to go out with friends unless she was with him.
When walking down the street, he had to carefully watch only the sidewalk, or face consequences. He was required to send forty photos a day to ‘prove’ his location, and his phone was randomly checked for messages. To put it in perspective, some prisoners have more freedom. This obsessive control was inflicted on Patrick, despite him never having been unfaithful, not even in thought.
Inevitably, the day arrives when he falters. He falls for someone he meets online, leaves Lola, and starts a new relationship. They’re together for a week, reportedly, before he returns to Lola, but not before introducing his new girlfriend to his parents. Lola wants nothing to do with him, confidently admitting she’s beautiful and that her “I love yous” were meaningless, mirroring his own “nonsense” over eight years of emotional confinement.
He ignores her rejection, declaring he’s bought a tent and will camp outside her house until she forgives him. “Because Lola is so good, she’d rather be stung than kill a mosquito. When we’re at the park, she always looks at the ground so she doesn’t crush the ants, and she tells me to do the same.”
On television, the woman hardly seems like a fairytale character. She likely regrets not being selected for ‘Temptation Island’ and is now putting on a show on ‘C’è Posta per Te’. Despite his pleas (“trust me, please, try!”), she accepts his flowers but closes the envelope. Happy ending? Not quite. Lola re-enters the studio, having changed her mind: “I want to give myself this chance, but from now on, I’m in charge and I decide!”
Precisely as it always was. This relationship isn’t built on love, but on Patrick’s fear of Lola (and losing her). He even promises to go to therapy, as she strongly suggests. Sadly, both would likely be happier apart. They’re two people who, due to their incompatible personalities, shouldn’t have met in the first place. Yet, they choose to stay together. Because there are countless ways to ruin your life every day. They’ve chosen this one. Congratulations!
Dad Leo is “good but not a man of action” (and unfortunately has two ungrateful daughters): Grade 9
Genoveffa and Anastasia, two sisters, are at odds with their father. Their story, at least as seen on TV, is a bitter one. Leo has been with a new partner, Mariangela, for years, and his daughters Valentina and Federica haven’t spoken to him since.
It wasn’t always silent. They all got along for a long time. Then, one day, Mariangela pointed out that a revealing photo posted online by one of her stepdaughters wasn’t a prudent choice, noting “there are bad people on social media.” This sparked an irreparable rift. The situation, however, likely has deeper roots, or at least, one can hope. The stepdaughter felt “insulted, even subtly” by the comment.
While her sister doesn’t share the same feelings, she isn’t bothered because “she’s family, Mariangela isn’t.” The issue of the “hot” photo is clearly a pretext: the daughters dislike Mariangela’s existence and simply waited for an opportunity to attack, even inventing one. Both hide behind a false pretense of politeness, claiming they don’t want to say anything bad about their father on TV, as he’s always been a good father and provided for them. But by not expressing their reasons, as Mariangela points out, they “come across as spoiled.”
From home, it seems the daughters dislike Mariangela without even knowing why. One follows the other because: “I, Maria, do what she says.” The hatred by proxy is a new discovery. Leo realizes Valentina and Federica might be jealous of Mariangela and absorbs their scornful laughter.
Even when the invitation to his grandson’s baptism is at stake – he can attend if he wants, but only without his partner – she isn’t welcome. It’s impossible not to sympathize with this man trying to protect everyone, with Mariangela contributing and Anastasia and Genoveffa actively working against him. They share a tattoo that says ‘Always,’ and he mentions it to highlight their bond, only to be mocked for his imperfect English pronunciation. Can they be called vultures? At least hyenas with a sense of humor.
This man helped give them life, you know? And he’s doing everything he can to reconcile with them. They don’t even know why they’ve cut him out of their lives, but it seems to be mere whim. Meanwhile, Valentina and Federica don’t speak to many other relatives, from their mother to their aunts and uncles: “It’s like you’re in a circle, everyone else is outside because they’re bad or they just don’t understand you. Could it ever occur to you that maybe they’re not the ones who are wrong?”
The envelope is opened, but we doubt this family will get far. There’s too much inexplicable, one-sided poison. All our sympathy goes to Leo, and we want to reiterate that with all our hearts. He also delivered the funniest line of the evening: trying to explain himself without swearing – which anyone in that situation would have done – he says: “I’m good, yes, but not… I don’t want to use bad words… well, I’m good but not a man of action, you know?” We get it. And we laughed. If only all dads were like that. Sometimes, a bitter realization, it seems they only have those who don’t deserve them.
Alessandro won’t forgive his mother, and has ‘replaced’ her without regret: Grade 0
This is a very difficult story, and the most shocking of the evening, and of the entire season so far. Angela, a mother devastated by her son Alessandro’s impenetrable silence, is the one who called the program. He hasn’t wanted anything to do with her for years. But first, let’s focus on this woman: married to a man who was “often agitated,” she was trapped in an unhappy marriage for 25 years. And ‘unhappy’ in the worst way: her ex-husband would often come home furious, and their arguments were so loud they could be heard throughout the street.
After yet another unwarranted outburst, Angela called the police. Then she called her father, who lives in Puglia, asking for shelter. He refused, saying “you’re married and have a son, you have to stay where you are.” Meanwhile, their son, very young at the time, would put on headphones when his parents “fought” and isolate himself, claiming he doesn’t remember exactly what happened in the house.
He does, however, have “fun” memories shared with his father: they went for aperitifs together, and he’s certain his father loved him, unlike his mother who, according to him, “was only there with us because she had to be.” At one point, his father, a taxi driver, disappeared. He was found asleep in his car and, predictably, “agitated.” Angela decided to leave him definitively, as they hadn’t been intimate for a long time, and fled to Puglia to her father. But her father wouldn’t even open the door, refusing to let her in.
Fortunately, she had been chatting with a local man, much younger, for emotional support. She asked him for asylum, and he willingly offered her a place in his home, with his sister, for about twenty days. After that, Angela took matters into her own hands: she went to a homeless shelter, then found a job as a caregiver, and saved enough money to rent an apartment.
A month after leaving, she called her son Alessandro. He told her she was “dead” as far as he was concerned. They haven’t spoken since. Angela wasn’t even informed when her ex-husband passed away. “I would have wanted to know because we were together for 25 years and I loved him,” she explains, as if she deserved to be informed.
Alessandro, 24, treats her like a stranger, even when telling her he’s not feeling well: “I’m sorry because I don’t wish illness on anyone. But I’ve replaced you, I’ve had another mother for years, Grazia, the little brother I always wanted, and my partner Samantha with whom I have a son you’ll never meet. Because there are mistakes from which there’s no turning back.”
We don’t diminish the pain the young man must have felt, believing his mother abandoned him to live a glamorous life in Puglia while he was left to care for his sick father until the end. But it’s chilling how he dismisses his mother. It seems like an inherited indifference, the impression is that he grew up colluding with his father and learning from him to ignore and despise his mother.
We don’t even know if we should hope he’ll come to his senses. But we hope Angela’s new partner, with whom she’s been with for two years, is wonderful. She’s seen and is still seeing too much. She deserves the best.
Alessandra Amoroso ‘reads eyes’ and, as a new mom, gets emotional: Grade 8
Alessandra Amoroso is the surprise guest for the final story, about a family whose lives have been marked by tragedy but who haven’t lost their good humor or their will to live. It’s Carola, a mother in a wheelchair after a terrible car accident when she was young, who calls the program to ask her children, Giada and Riccardo, to stop worrying about her: “I’ll never be able to run to you, okay, but I’m fine. I’m a seated mom.”
Since doctors told her she would lose the use of her legs, the woman, with two young children, has never lost her smile, saying: “I chose to live.” Alessandra Amoroso is the children’s favorite singer and recently gave birth to her daughter Penelope. Naturally, she gets emotional: “I hope to be as strong as one of your mother’s fingernails,” she confesses, adding: “There’s also your dad Roberto in the backstage, and I was standing next to him before coming on.
So I was able to see his eyes, which are the same as yours, and I read the same pure and rare feeling in them. I started crying then, I’m a fan of all of you, you really have something special.” Usually, guests of ‘C’è Posta per te’ read a heartfelt message, present a solidarity check to the invitees, and offer their best wishes.
Alessandra Amoroso, however, seemed genuinely involved and emotional. She was a zebra among polka dots in that context. Highly recommended. And when she sees De Filippi, she greets her with “Hi, grandma!” And even the most icy iceberg would melt with tenderness. In fact, we melted.
Mom Sabrina’s story didn’t need the Turkish actors to tell ‘The Strength of a Woman’: Grade 5
Let’s be clear: Mom Sabrina deserves a 10, with honors. The failing grade is due to the ‘VIP’ entourage chosen to ‘enhance’ her already incredible story, which is perfectly valid on its own. The Turkish actors Feyyaz Duman, Ahu Yagtu, and Caner Cindoruk, stars of the soap opera ‘La Forza di una Donna,’ were an unnecessary addition to a story that feels like the origin story of an Avenger.
Sabrina’s three children, Flaminia, Tania, and Giovanni, are the ones who called the program. She raised them alone because their father disappeared when the children were very young. And she did so by juggling countless jobs to pay the bills and give them everything possible, even when it wasn’t: the ornaments on their Christmas tree were, for years, crumpled candy wrappers. But they sparkled nonetheless in the children’s imagination, thanks to their mom’s ingenuity.
Life hasn’t been kind to her, but she has chosen to remain kind. Even when, 20 years later, her ex-husband calls to say he’s seriously ill, Sabrina doesn’t have anything bad or mean to say, encouraging her children to go visit him for what will be their last goodbye. In this way, they ‘rebuild’ a semblance of a relationship with the father who had abandoned them, and don’t retain a completely desperate or hateful memory of him.
Sabrina doesn’t harbor resentment towards the man who left her to live a complicated life because: “People can get lost in life, it happens. But children are more important than anything else.” What did the three Turkish actors add to this beautiful story? Oh right, a few clichés, just to promote the soap opera ‘La Forza di una Donna.’ Really.
