Al Bano's story is marked by the tragic disappearance of one of the daughters he had with Romina Power, Ylenia Carrisi. Nearly 30 years have passed since it vanished without a trace in New Orleans on New Year's Eve 1994. The Italian singer searched and searched until he asked to be declared dead in 2013 and now, in an interview in Corriere Della Sera, he has finally revealed what happened to the young woman: "Now I know what happened to her."

In the conversation with Corriere's journalist, Aldo Cazzullo, Al Bano talked about many things. the origin of his name and his family, his beginnings in music, his relationships or his travels. But he has also given details about Ylenia's disappearance that he had never revealed before.

"She was an extraordinary girl. He studied at King's College London and spoke English, Spanish, French, Portuguese... He came to Moscow with us, where I had 18 concerts, and even there he learned a little Russian. Then he accompanied us to the United States to shoot the documentary 'Lost America'," he recalls when asked about Ylenia. "We went from Los Angeles to New Orleans and there he had his fateful encounter," he adds.

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Cazzullo then affects what encounter that was. "The vagabonds, street artists... I remember a black man, his name was Masakela," she confesses. "One afternoon the company went to the movies, but I stayed with Ylenia because I had noticed something strange. Suddenly she started running, and I was behind her when she shouted "stop, that man wants to hurt me", and that man was me. "It was clearly a drug problem," he says. "She lost me and I didn't find her again until 8 a.m. He told his mother that he had risked his life in the waters of the Mississippi that night," he says.

After the incident, Al Bano remembers what happened next. "We went to Venice to visit Romina's aunt, Anne, sister of Tyrone Power, a kind-hearted painter. Peace seemed to have returned. But on the way back, Ylenia tells me: "Dad, I have decided to write a book and to do it I have to go to Belize, the homeland of the homeless. There she lived in a hut, where a man threatened her and miraculously saved her life. So he went back to New Orleans because he said he didn't want to hang out with the people here."

Ylenia Carrisi.@rominaspower

And then came the date marked in black in his life, New Year's Eve 1994. "I rebuilt that night hour by hour. I talked to witnesses. I met Masakela, who had been in prison, but denied any guilt. I questioned the last person who saw her, the port watchman," he explains.

It was after that conversation that the truth appeared to him. The guard told him that he warned Ylenia when he caught his attention for sitting in the harbor by the water. "You can't stay here," he says the guard told him. But Ylenia answered, "I belong to the waters," and dived into the river, swimming butterfly-style.

"There I understood that the guard was telling the truth, because Ylenia used to say that phrase as a child before jumping into the water, and she always swam in butterfly style. But the Mississippi does not forgive," reveals Al Bano. "Romina never wanted to accept it. But it was, "says the singer, finally revealing what can never be proven since the body was never found. .

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