Biography
In the summer of 1981 I went to Listowel, County Kerry,
where I had my first seminar in traditional Irish fiddle playing, held by Charlie Lennon
and a young Nollaig Casey.
As soon as I got back to Italy I went straight back to the violin and,like many other musicians in Rome,
the Folkstudio run by Giancarlo Cesaroni was a focal point of my activity.
By April 1985 I was convinced that the only way to get to know and understand traditional music
was to undergo a full immersion in the culture and daily life of the country, and so I moved to Belfast
where I had the chance to widen my knowledge and sharpen my skills in traditional techniques.
I also had the amazing experience of getting to know and to play with many musicians,
who later became close friends.
It was during my first long stay in Ireland that I joined the Belfast folk band, the Ultan,
with Brendan O’Hare on the flute, Maurice Mc Hugh on guitar and Michael Horgan
on the uillean pipe.
In the next two years we went on tour several times in Europe.
Back in Italy I became interested in the traditional music of my own country,
especially the violin repertoire, and I started playing with several bands,
including the Sedon Salvadie, a group from Friuli with whom I toured in Europe,
and Malbruk, a band from the Piedmont region, with whom I took part in the Budapest Folk Festival.
From 1987 onwards, I played in countless traditional music festivals in Italy and throughout Europe, either as a participant,
guest player or instrument seminar instructor.
These festivals included the Folkest in S. Daniele del Friuli; the Festival Interceltique in Lorient
in Brittany; the Folkfestival in Barnbach in Austria and the busker festival On The Road di Pelago Florence,
where I won tied first prize in 1988; the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,
where I later settled for a few months in order to find out more about the local musical (1994);
the Folk Festival di Ennis, Ireland (2000-2004); the Gig´n the Bann Festival in Portglenone,
Co.Antrim (2004 and 2005); the Rome Irish Fleadh in Roma (2005-2008) and the Irish Festival
in Locarno, Switzerland (2009).
The idea of a festival as a meeting place for musicians to share their musical cultures led me to organize
the first Fleadh Ceol in Rome in April 1997. This traditional Irish music festival with musicians
from all over Ireland, was so successful that two more editions followed in June and September.
This experience led me to start up and coach two workshops at the Scuola Popolare di Musica di Testaccio :
Laboratorio di Musica di Tradizione Orale, (a workshop focusing on the oral tradition) in 1992,
and Laboratorio per Archi di Musica Tradizionale,(more specifically for violins) in 1997.
I later started instructing groups, teaching private students and holding other workshops there.
While my interest in traditional music and my deep conviction in the importance of full immersion for
learning new music have kept me out of Italy for extended periods of time,
I have still played a part in many different musical projects in Italy.
Among these: a duo with Mariano De Simone on the 5-string banjo,
with whom we performed a repertoire of Irish and North American traditional music,
and several duos and trios with the Birkin Tree.
I have also experimented with other genres such as the theatre, where I played and acted with
the Teatro di Roma in a theatrical adaptation of Pinocchio,directed by Roberto Guicciardini
from 1991 to 1993. I have recorded with several important singers and groups.
Among the most important recordings are: “Terra di nessuno” with Francesco De Gregori,
“Fuori dal controllo” (1997), with the folk-rock group, the Gang, (with whom I have also toured),
“A Zero Ore” (1998) with Ned Ludd and “1.0” (1999) with Fiamma Fumana.
Since 2007 I have been teaching basic violin technique and Irish music in Rome,
at the Scuola di Musiche, Circolo Gianni Bosio.
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