A few years ago, everybody called him “the GIF guy”. Today he can count on a million follower Instagram account and on a website always updated with news and rumors about showbiz and social networks. Trash Italiano, also known as Marco D’Annolfi, is the one who made TV trash a real language, that we can use on our Whatsapp chats and in our everyday life. He even spread on the web one of Chiara Ferragni’s slogan! Read our interview to know everything about him!
Hi Marco, when did you start Trash Italiano?
I founded Trash Italiano by chance actually. I started creating multimedia contents (at the beginning they were mainly GIFs) because I realized that on the Internet there were only animated images from other foreign countries. So I said to myself: “Italian TV shows offer a lot of trash contents, why nobody ever used it?”. That’s how everything began.
You were known as “the GIF guy” and you were the first one to use them on social networks in Italy. Do you remember the first one you made? And the most successful one?
I always say that my first GIF was Tina Cipollari’s famous quote: “No Maria, io esco” (sounds like “No Maria, I quit!”, ndr). I’m proud of this intuition because since then, many Internet users began to use that quote, even if they weren’t fans of Uomini e Donne (a popular Italian afternoon TV show, ndr) or they didn’t appreciate that kind of television.
Your contents were mainly inspired by Maria De Filippi (a popular TV presenter in Italy, ndr) TV shows and to the people who work with her. Do you think that being associated with her helped you?
Of course, especially in terms of contents. Maria De Filippi’s world was, and still is, the one which offers more materials, because there are so many different characters. Every TV show creates different contents and there so much to talk about every day. You have to consider also another fact: if the TV show is acclaimed, every GIFs, tweets or video about it will receive positive feedbacks.
When did you realize that your GIFs and your tweets have generated a true phenomenon on the web?
I realized it when I was invited for the first time to see a TV show rehearsal. When I got there, hanging in the halls, I discovered that so many people who worked there followed me on social networks and loved what I was doing. It was a strange sensation: I saw all the likes and the comments, of course, but I never thought I could get such a great welcoming also in real life.
Celebrities often mention you in TV shows, you have more than 1 million followers on Instagram, but it’s quite difficult to see you in pics and videos… Do you prefer to keep Marco secret? And how much of Marco D’Annolfi we can find in Trash Italiano?
I don’t like to show myself, it’s true. I don’t feel comfortable being filmed. And actually, now that Trash Italiano is a huge part of my life, I don’t think Marco would have so many things to tell! I started Trash Italiano to talk about showbiz through my sense of humor, but without bringing my private life in the spotlight. I think that was the secret of Trash Italiano’s success.
Have you ever thought to make this passion a job? Today you have a very populari news website…
I never thought this could be a job, especially because it wasn’t my goal. It was a passion, a hobby. I started considering it as a job only a few years ago.
Tell us the pros and cons of being a TV influencer.
The positive side of this job is to see so many different settings, to meet people you would never think to meet in life and to experience something new every day. The negative one? It’s very hard to distinguish the people who support you only to obtain something. But time helps you to recognize true friends.
Chiara Ferragni, as well, recently entered in your GIF and meme’s gallery. Which is the very first GIF you dedicated her?
The first one was “Imprenditrice Digitale” (in English sounds like “Digital Entrepreneur”, ndr), but it’s only for Instagram stories. The very first GIF is the one where she says: “Io non stiro niente” (in English “I don’t iron”): that quote started trending immediately!
“Imprenditrice Digitale” literally broke the Internet, but Fedez’s GIFs are very popular as well. How much do you like The Ferragnez?
I really appreciate Chiara for everything she did: she built an empire from nothing, and she proved that, if you have the right intuition, you can go everywhere. I also had the chance to meet Fedez and I really think he’s a great guy. When someone asks me what I think about him, I always answer: I have never changed my opinion about him, and I can’t say the same thing about many people that work in the showbiz.
Give us a spoiler: are you working on new videos and GIFs about Chiara?
I’m working on a video featuring all her adventures in airports all over the world, that usually ends with her yelling to an airline company.