Alessandro Ponzanelli

Alessan­dro Pon­zanelli is an Ital­ian surfer whom we recently dis­cov­ered via Face­book. When we asked his fel­low coun­try­man who was the best surfer in the region was, he exclaimed “Pon­zanelli!” A visit to YouTube con­firmed that he was indeed an amaz­ing surfer. Allessan­dro spent some time with to tell us about the Ital­ian surf scene and his inspired life.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I was born in Pietrasanta, the youngest of three broth­ers. I grew up in Ver­silia, a sea­side area known more for its dis­cos and night­clubs rather than for its waves. My fam­ily used to spend its sum­mers at sea­side resort “Wanda”. It was run by Ario Bertacca, one of the pio­neers of the Ital­ian surf­ing. Together with some friends of mine and with my elder brother Luca, I approached surf­ing when I was only 12, but in spite of this my mother let me go with them even dur­ing sum­mer wind swells. At first, I used to stop surf­ing dur­ing win­ter. But when I was about 15 and surf had already become some­thing impor­tant and real in my life, I bought a wet­suit and started surf­ing at every swell. With my friends, I used to hang out at Nim­bus Surf­ing Club, and when it was flat we used to go sail­ing and windsurfing.

When did you get your first surf­board?
It was my brother who gave me my first board—an old short­board Costa Ovest, a local brand. It was sprayed and had a curi­ous slo­gan on the tail: No alla mafia nello sport (“No mafia in sport”). I went on for some sea­sons to bor­row long­boards so as to be able to go surf­ing as often as pos­si­ble. In the end, I bought one.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood up on a surf­board?
That moment is still impressed in my mind. “Free­dom” is prob­a­bly the right word to describe the sensation.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
When I was a lit­tle child, my mod­els were my elder broth­ers, Michele and Luca. I often went out with them and their friends, and I know to them I was a real pain in the ass!! I pre­ferred stay­ing with older guys because peo­ple of my age did noth­ing else but play­ing foot­ball and I had other inter­ests. As a surfer, I’ve always admired Joel Tudor and I grew up watch­ing (and study­ing) old Her­bie Fletcher videos.

What should we know about the surf­ing scene in Italy?
Despite what they say, it is pos­si­ble to go surf­ing in Italy, but you need a lot of free time since you usu­ally have to drive a lot to find the right place and in win­ter you’ve to face freez­ing con­di­tions. Many pro surfers have vis­ited our peninsula—some were lucky and surfed waves they would have never imag­ined to find in the Mediter­ranean. Oth­ers were not as lucky. The prob­lem is that swells are spo­radic, espe­cially in sum­mer when you can face long flat spells.

Who/what inspires you?
Many surfers, be they famous or not, have inspired me over the years. Among them, Oliver Parker (whom I surfed with while in Cal­i­for­nia). He’s prob­a­bly one of the best long­board­ers at Rin­con; he’s got a great style and can surf reg­u­lar or goofy with­out you real­iz­ing which is his stance.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
That you should never cease to believe in your dreams.

What are you most proud of?
I’m doing what I love doing and I’m proud of it, proud of the goals I’ve reached in surf­ing, proud to work with Sun­dek, which sup­ports me and allows me to travel.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
The poor con­di­tions of the Ital­ian surf pushed me to travel a lot, over the years, in the end­less search for the place where I could find the per­fect waves and set­tle down. A safe place, but also an uncon­t­a­m­i­nated one. I think Aus­tralia can be this place. Another place I love to go to, and which is quite near from where I live, is Sar­dinia, a happy island in the mid­dle of the Mediter­ranean. To Ital­ian surfers, this island is like Hawaii, a won­der­ful place with some of the most beau­ti­ful spots in the Mediter­ranean. It’s there that I found some of the best waves I’ve ever surfed and the water is really clear.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I’m a reserved per­son and I’m at ease when I’m out with my board—my mind free of thoughts. I gave up study­ing, and I know this could be penal­iz­ing in the future, but I’ve learned a lot from trav­el­ing and meet­ing sev­eral per­sons who pos­i­tively influ­enced me and my way to look at things. Every­body should have his own dream and this is mine.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Go surf­ing on uncrowded waves with my best friends.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Joel Tudor, Tom Cur­ren, Kelly Slater, Rastovich

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I got sev­eral boards that I love, but maybe the one I enjoyed the most and that reminds me about a lot of adven­tures and great moments is my 9’4″ Tudor noserider, which I lit­er­ally destroyed while com­pet­ing in national con­test and bring­ing it with me while trav­el­ling all around the world. As for my favourite surf spots, I could men­tion Noosa, Hol­lis­ter Ranch, Malibu.

What’s your favorite meal?
Tordelli with ragù.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Talk­ing Heads, Neil Young, Led Zep­pelin, Rosco P. Coltrane

What are you most grate­ful for?
For my fam­ily. And to be happy.

What’s next for Alessan­dro Pon­zanelli?
I’m work­ing very close with Michele Puliti, a local shaper, and I’m learn­ing how to build a board. I don’t know if this could turn out as a future job, but it’s okay for now. I’m now leav­ing for another surf trip to some remote area in Indonesia.

A video clip of Alessan­dro Pon­zanelli can be found here. Pho­tog­ra­phy cred­its: 1. Cris­t­ian Cor­radin 2. Tommy Lopez 3. Cris­t­ian Cor­radin 4. Giuseppe Repetto 5. Luca Pon­zanelli