Sanremo host Conti to give some of fee

(ANSA) - Rome, January 31 - Sanremo host Carlo Conti said after criticism of his 650,000 fee for hosting the upcoming song fest that he would give some of it to people in central Italy who have endured a series of crippling earthquakes.
    "It's nicer to help others without saying, without shouting it from the rooftops to look good," Conti told Oggi magazine.
    "I had already planned to devote a major sum to the populations struck by the earthquake and I wanted to keep it to myself, but unfortunately these absurd rows have forced me to make it public".
    Rightwing populist Northern League leader Matteo Salvini had earlier called Conti's fee "disgusting" and urged RAI State TV, which is reportedly earning six million euros from the fest, to help out the quake-hit.
    The Sanremo fest runs February 7-11 in the northern Ligurian coastal resort.