In an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO! magazine, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has introduced his new baby daughter Virginia and reveals how he sang to her the first time he held her in his hands.
The award-winning classical music star lost his sight at the age of 12. "Andrea likes to hold Virginia up close to his face to smell her," his partner Veronica told HELLO!.
Added Andrea: "Virginia has a more delicate smell than my sons."
The world-famous Italian is already father to Amos, 18 and Matteo, 14, from his marriage to Enrica Cenzatti. His sons were with him when Virginia made her debut into the world, with all three waiting anxiously outside the delivery suite. “We heard the applause when Virginia came out,” said Andrea, who sang Ange Adorable from Romeo and Juliet when he went in to hold his daughter.
“When Andrea held her, Virginia had her eyes wide open, like she was watching him,” said Veronica.
Andrea said that he is likely to feel “more protective” now that he has a daughter. At 53, he is also a more mature father. “Fortunately for her, I’ll be old by the time she’s 15,” he joked. “So I tell my sons, ‘You’ll have the responsibility to do what I can’t do anymore.”
He’s not a hands-on father just yet. “It’s not so interesting for me to change the pannolino [nappies],” he laughed. “My job is to sing her to sleep.”
Andrea and Veronica, who moved in together the first day they met ten years ago, were speaking to HELLO! from their three-storey, ten-bedroom home in Tuscany. Andrea, who is recording a new album, is adamant his children won’t be spoilt. “Life must be lived seriously,” he said. “Spoiling them today would mean ruining their future years.”