Ruggero Freddi (born October 6, 1976) is an Italian mathematics

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

and former

gay pornographic film Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; it at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornograp ...

actor known professionally as Carlo Masi.

Early life and education

Freddi was born in Rome in 1976 to a poor family. His parents divorced when he was three years old. At the age of 14, he began to work out at a local gym, practicing

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...

assiduously. In 2002, when he was about to complete his first cycle of study at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

, he moved to Canada, and subsequently to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Career

In 2003, Masi completed a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(MSc) degree in computer engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome and worked in an artificial intelligence laboratory.

Pornography

In 2004, after being contacted by a Colt Studio Group (CSG) recruiter, he made his debut in the

gay pornography Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; it at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornogra ...

industry participating in his first porn movie, ''Big N 'Plenty''. After his debut, he signed an exclusive model contract with CSG. He has always promoted safe sex, fraternising with the Italian

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

. In 2006, he was selected to appear on the cover of ''COLT 40,'' a coffee table book published to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the production company. In 2007, Masi and his future husband, Adam Champ (), were selected to appear on the cover of the ''Damron 2007 Men's Travel Guide''. In 2008, CSG and Calaexotic released a

dildo A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for sexual penetration or other sexual activity during masturbation or with sex partners. Dildos can be made from a number of materials and shaped like an erect human penis ...

reproduction of Masi's penis. That same year, he was named the first and only Colt Man Emeritus and his contract was extended to a lifetime one. In 2008, Masi and Champ, were selected to appear on the cover of ''Adam Gay Film & Video Directory Magazine''. During his porn career, he was a guest on national Italian TV shows such as ', ''

L'Infedele ''L'Infedele'' was an Italian television talk show hosted by the Italian journalist Gad Lerner and broadcast on La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel own ...

'' and '. Moreover, he was featured in several tours across America, Mexico and Europe to promote the CSG brand. His porn career lasted six years (from age 28 to 34). Following a disagreement with Colt in 2009, Masi retired from the pornography industry. He then entered the theatre industry. In 2010, he was officially announced as a permanent member of the cast of ''Saturday Night Live Italia'' but he never appeared on the show. In 2011, he was included in the anthologies ''Porn from Andy Warhol to X-Tube'' and ''Gay Porn Heroes: 100 Most Famous Porn Stars''. In 2013, he was interviewed for the documentary ''HUSTLABALL BERLIN - A Documentary That Bares All''. In 2014, he was included in the coffee table book produced by Colt entitled ''Hairy Chested Men''.

Theatre

In 2009, he made his theatre debut with Senzaparole, a reinterpretation of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's ''

Act Without Words I ''Act Without Words I'' is a short play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first (followed by ''Act Without Words II''). Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French (''Acte sans paroles I''), being translated in ...

'', directed by and staged in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

with the theatre company. and later in Rome at the .

Academia

After working in the theatre, Masi decided to return to the Sapienza University of Rome. There he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree (cum laude) in mathematics, with a score of 110/110 and then a Master of Science degree (cum laude) in mathematics with a score of 110/110. In 2020, he completed a Ph.D. in Mathematical Models for Engineering, Electromagnetism and Nanosciences at Sapienza University of Rome focusing on the application of

Morse theory In mathematics, specifically in differential topology, Morse theory enables one to analyze the topology of a manifold by studying differentiable functions on that manifold. According to the basic insights of Marston Morse, a typical differentiabl ...

to a

Dirichlet Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (; 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician who made deep contributions to number theory (including creating the field of analytic number theory), and to the theory of Fourier series and ...

problem traced back to Poisson equations. His doctoral advisors were Angela Pistoia and . While he was working on his doctorate, he was a lecturer for Analysis 1 and Analysis 2 courses at the Faculty of Engineering at the Sapienza University of Rome.

Media attention

In 2017, an article published by ''

la Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

'' brought to light his past as a porn actor, causing a media frenzy. The story was picked up by numerous newspapers around the world. In 2020, writer

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

winner published ''La natura è innocente – Due vite quasi vere''. This book is a double biography, told in alternate chapters, one of which is that of Ruggero Freddi. In 2023, he returned to the media spotlight, after winning a lawsuit for

unfair dismissal In labour law, unfair dismissal is an act of employment termination made without good reason or contrary to the country's specific legislation. Situation per country Australia (See: '' unfair dismissal in Australia'') Australia has long-standing ...

against his former employers at the

because they fired him without cause and refused to pay him for work done in 2019. The university was ordered to pay him €2,500 for his hours worked and damages of €1,500 for "unjustified dismissal".

Personal life

In 2015, Masi married Prince Giovanni Ravaschieri

Fieschi The Fieschi were a noble merchant family from Genoa, Italy, from whom descend the Fieschi Ravaschieri Princes of Belmonte. Of ancient origin, they took their name from the progenitor ''Ugo Fliscus'', descendants of the counts of Lavagna. The fami ...

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. Del Drago died in 2016. During his participation at ''

Pomeriggio Cinque ''Pomeriggio Cinque'' is an Italian television entertainment news program broadcast every weekday at 5:00 p.m., on the Italian TV channel Canale 5. Barbara D'Urso has hosted the program since 2008. The program leads the ratings for its time s ...

'', he proposed to his partner, . The civil union was celebrated on May 4, 2018, and was broadcast live on ''Pomeriggio Cinque.''

Selected videography

Awards

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Masi, Carlo 1976 births 21st-century Italian male actors 21st-century Italian mathematicians Gay academics Gay scientists Gay pornographic film actors Gay sportsmen Italian bodybuilders Italian male stage actors LGBT bodybuilders Italian LGBT scientists Italian LGBT sportspeople Italian gay actors Living people Male actors from Rome Sapienza University of Rome alumni Academic staff of the Sapienza University of Rome 21st-century Italian LGBT people