The Il Volo 2025 tour in Italian Palasports has begun:
10 January JESOLO
The concert is in the Palazzo del Turismo.
We are in the Veneto region and the president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, published this on his Facebook page:
🗣️🎤🎶The “Grande Amore” between Il Volo and Veneto is re-confirmed as a “CAPOLAVORO”! (Masterpiece)
After last summer’s events in Venice and Marostica, the “Three Musketeers of Bel canto” are ready to excite fans again with their greatest successes this evening at the Palazzetto del Turismo in Jesolo (VE) and on Monday 13 January at the Palaverde in Villorba (TV).
WELCOME TO IL VOLO
Some photos of the soundcheck:
As you understood from the photo, Cecile will also be present a the concerts!
Everything is ready for the concert and Il Volo sends us this short video before the start!!
The beginning is spectacular, the orchestra begins an instrumental version of PER ASPERA, lights make spectacular plays, in the center of the stage a large black drape covers the central part and descends from above, obscuring those who are arriving. CHIARO DI LUNA begins, voices can be heard but Piero, Ignazio and Ginluca cannot be seen but all of a sudden the curtain falls and they are there!! 🤩🤩🤩 SPETTACOLARE!!
Il Volo, a complete show for the arena tour – CONCERT REVIEW
The new Il Volo tour “Tutti per uno – Ad Astra – Live in the sports halls” officially started last night from the Unipol Forum in Assago, after the zero date on Friday in Jesolo. tours of buildings
The trio composed of Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble continue the celebrations for their fifteen-year career also sealed by the release, in March 2024, of their first album of unreleased songs “Ad Astra”.
A lot of time has passed since Il Volo was born on TV, time that has served to build a solid project, one of a kind, the result of intense work supported by an exceptional team.
The lights go out and the audience gasps, the fabulous orchestra directed by Maestro Edmondo Moses Savio is positioned on the stage and here we hear the voices of the trio, which however we do not see until the enormous veil that covers them falls and so they appear very elegant at the center of the stage.
It starts with a medley of three songs, all three unreleased from the latest album: “Per aspera”, “Chiaro di luna” and “Opera”. Then comes the first cover, “Who wants to live forever” which ends with an ovation and the first greetings to the Milanese audience from the three boys.
We continue with “Masterpiece” which makes the whole audience sing before opening the chapter of solo performances: everyone takes the time of a song to show off their vocal and stylistic characteristics and so we find Gianluca grappling with “Rocket man” , Ignazio with “The show must go on” and Piero with “E lucevan le stelle”.
Three personalities, three vocals, three children who have become men together and now joke on stage, making fun of each other for having taken fifteen years to release an album of only unreleased songs. “We took it easy” they say, then adding that their goal was had always been to “bring bel canto to the world” but that proposing a new repertoire was important for them at this point in their career. And so, after “Il mondo all’contrario” we move on to a moment dedicated to that immense genius of Ennio Morricone: accompanying them in “E più ti penso” is Cecille, a young singer who opened the concert.
Then, among unreleased songs and timeless hits, during the second medley of the evening they even descend into the audience, to the amazement of the excited audience who tries to touch them as if they were divine entities. And in fact the otherworldly moment seems to arrive on “Hallelujah”, when Ignazio asks to turn on the lights of the phones and the forum lights up to the notes of one of Leonard Cohen’s most famous songs.
It is towards the end that Il Volo thanks their manager Michele Torpedine, both for the work done alongside them and for that intuition they had with “Miserere” to mix pop and opera for the first time, a song which they then perform and which gives them a standing ovation. There is still time for another moment in which each of the three boys performs individually, but when it’s Gianluca’s turn he calls the French Saints on stage to give life to an exciting duet to the tune of “Wicked game”.
The final rush includes the “most important songs for us”, the first ones they sang together such as “Un amore così grande” and “Il mondo” and culminates with the whole audience standing to sing the very Sanresi “Grande amore” which earned them the victory in 2015. The trio leaves the stage but cannot help but return, loudly called back by the people who are now enjoying the last notes of the concert, which ends with “Ad Astra” the song that gives the title to their already mentioned album.
The setlist therefore saw alternating unreleased songs, escapes into opera music, rock standards and great classics: Il Volo does its job and does it well, aware of carrying on an Italian tradition that still strikes a chord in the hearts of many. It is with a touch of pride that I then say that we were born in the country where some of the most beautiful melodies in the world were written and it is not a shame to remember this every now and then. You see the concert and say: two hours of beautiful songs sung undeniably well, with a power and clarity of singing that is difficult not to notice.
Their “musical journey without borders” – as they call it – is clean and feels genuine, it doesn’t matter if the repertoire is too reassuring, they wink at what the public wants and flirt with foreign countries like few others. others.
Even the TV news talked about the concert in Milan, I chose this one from ITALIA 1. (pay attention at the beginning when the audience is framed, in the first row you can see Claudia, Gianluca’s girlfriend singing happily) 🥰
The new Il Volo tour in Italian sports halls starts from Milan with a sold-out.
“The new Il Volo tour in Italian sports halls started with a sold-out in Milan.”
GIANLUCA= We are really proud to be able to bring our music to an audience after so long, for our audience who has followed us since the beginning.
“The setlist includes the great hits of their incredible sixteen-year journey, but also the songs from the first album of unreleased AD ASTRA songs”.
IGNAZIO= We did a great job with the authors to have an update, a renewal of this musical genre.
“Treviso, Florence, Bologna, Turin, Rome, Eboli, Bari, up to Messina on January 26th, then the tour will continue in the U.S. in the main European capitals and in Latin America and also new projects.”
PIERO= We have been collaborating with the Mediaset networks for a while now, there will be many surprises. We are really happy with the relationship that has been created and what is to come.
And this is the review of the concert in Milan made by a radio station,Radio Italia.
After 16 years, Il Volo still takes us to see the stars.
Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca are the protagonists of a long musical journey that leads from great international successes to their latest album “Ad Astra”. Our story of the evening at the Forum in Milan, the new stop on their winter tour of the sports halls.
On a cold January evening, in Milan with a light fog, Il Volo takes care of making us see the stars. After the debut in Jesolo, the new show has arrived at the Assago Forum which brings the album “Ad Astra” live, but not only: in a show designed to celebrate music first of all, Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble are the protagonists of a journey between classic and modern, between tradition and innovation.
Just scroll through the setlist to realize that the trio, immortalized in the photo below by Francesco Prandoni, can really sing anything: the first cover performed live is “Who wants to live forever”, but you can continue with other hits world-wide such as “The sound of silence” and Italian such as “E più ti penso” (together with Cecille), up to “Nelle tue mani”, directly from “Il Gladiatore”. If, then, you can count on a band and an entire orchestra at your disposal, that’s it.
They are all songs, contained in over 2 hours of show, which have a meaning in the history of Il Volo: “They have accompanied us on this magnificent journey that has lasted 16 years”, explains Piero, immediately interrupted by Ignazio’s irony: “By now I have two weddings!”, he jokes, a few months after his wedding. Smiles aside, it is also from these continuous exchanges on stage that we understand why the three artists work so well together: they sing impeccably, but in a different way, each adding something to the other’s interpretation. In short, they complete each other, and Gianluca also underlines this, halfway through the evening, highlighting their 3 complementary “souls”.
But, as in any long self-respecting relationship, mutual respect cannot and must not be lacking: the three artists share the stage almost to the centimeter, even alternating in some solo passages: if Gianluca Ginoble launches into “Rocketman” and “Wicked Game”, surprisingly accompanied by the French Saints, Ignazio Boschetto gives “E Penso a te” and “Show must go on”; Piero Barone’s vocal strength, however, goes perfectly with “E lucevan le stelle” and “No puede ser”, eliciting hints of a standing ovation. It is together, however, that they give life to a thrilling homage to Ennio Morricone or excite with “Hallelujah”, illuminated by the torches of the entire Forum.
It really seems like a “Masterpiece”, like the song presented at the last Sanremo Festival and which began the most recent chapter in Il Volo’s career: “It all started from this song. A musical journey without borders, which will lead us ‘Ad Astra’, towards the stars”, they explain. In fact, between one success and another, the songs taken from the latest album, the only unreleased one so far, and the latest single “Tra le onde” also fit together: minute after minute, therefore, we jump from one generation to another, yet everything seems very connected. From “My Way” to “Miserere”, praised as the first mix between opera and pop, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca have the very difficult merit of making even the masterpieces of the past sound current, thanks to the support of a very high-level stage system.
The scenography helps, it’s true, but the priority of each performance of Il Volo is always the same: “The objective is to bring bel canto, in the footsteps of Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti”, they make it clear. The ending also confirms this, on the notes of 3 of the most important songs for them: “Un amore così grande”, one of the very first pieces they found themselves singing together, then another classic of our country like “Il mondo” and finally that “Great love” that led them to triumph in Sanremo and that 10 years later still makes everyone stand on their feet.
To close the concert, while waiting for the other dates that will bring the trio to the large Italian sports halls throughout January, all that remains is “Nessun dorma”, to sing all together “tramontate, stelle”. On the other hand, Il Volo has already shown them to us this evening.
As you have understood from the song list, Il Volo presented many songs from AD ASTRA mixing them with more classic songs. It’s clear that here in Italy the aim is to bring younger people together. For this purpose Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio a couple of days before the start of the tour, in Jesolo they had a special meeting with the young people who turn 18 this year (majority age in Italy), in fact a Jesolo newspaper reports the news of which I will translate the essential part:
“The ‘Newly-18 Year Olds Day’ in Jesolo promises to be a memorable event for the children who will reach adulthood in 2025. On Thursday 9 January, at the Pala Turismo, the young people will celebrate their entry into adulthood with a meeting special with the famous musical trio Il Volo. The kids born in 2007 will have the opportunity to participate in an exclusive meet & greet with Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca. Ginoble.”
An exciting moment yesterday for the boys of 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣7️⃣ who received theConstitution from our Mayor Christofer De Zotti with the councilor for youth policies Martina Borin for their 18th year☺️ concluded with the meeting with the boys of IL VOLO.
The space dedicated to them at the B.Y.C. was illustrated. Jesolo Young and captivating was the speech of the President of the Avis Jesolo association who reminded them that with the age of 18 not only do they acquire rights and derive as many duties as the Mayor well explained, but they also reach the right age to grasp a great opportunity to do good by donating to others.
But that’s not all, during the soundcheck in Jesolo, Il Volo met a special fan of theirs: Marco.
He fulfilled his dream, meeting those three voices that for him represent something unique and exciting. Marco Rossini, a 27-year-old from Concordia Sagittaria suffering from an intellectual disability, was received yesterday afternoon by “Il Volo”, the trio present in Jesolo for the concert scheduled for this evening at the Palazzo del Turismo.
During the rehearsals the young man, accompanied by his mother, shook hands and hugged his idols, spending a few minutes in their company. Moments that will forever be unforgettable for him. Those who took action to facilitate the meeting, which took place within a few days, were Simone Ferron, municipal councilor of Concordia Sagittaria, Christofer De Zotti, mayor of Jesolo and councilor Martina Borin, all present for the occasion and satisfied with the having seen the happiness of the best moments in the eyes of the Concordia native.
We were able to follow the musical group’s rehearsals in view of the concert – explains mother Elena – fulfilling Marco’s wish, which was to meet Ignazio, Piero and Gianluca live. The emotion for him was immeasurable, so much so that he couldn’t hold back his tears. All the people who worked for this extraordinary event yesterday conveyed action, availability, kindness and openness for which I cannot find a term sufficiently adequate to describe it. If not with a big thank you.”
The trio, increasingly appreciated internationally, yesterday also met the newly 18-year-olds from Jesolo, i.e. the new adults of 2025. Marco, at the end of the day, left the structure in Piazza Brescia happy and enthusiastic. On Monday he will attend the concert scheduled in Villorba, as a birthday present.
From yesterday’s meeting – concludes mother Elena – our spontaneous reflection was born on how today disability is becoming the driving force and power of other people’s hearts. I really have to say that dreams exist. And also their realization.”
In photo: Marco Rossini with Ignazio Boschetto of “Il Volo”
But it doesn’t end here, and with this latest news I want to conclude this post. I deliberately left this for last because it marks a truly unique and commendable step by our dear Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero.
A few days before the start of the tour Il Volo spent his time on this beautiful thing:
Il Volo from sick children: “A Great Love given to those who need it most”
“Grande Amore” sing the tenors of Il Volo, and yesterday that great love was given to the children hospitalized in the pediatrics and oncology departments of the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute in Bologna.
The musical group in fact celebrated thirty years of activity of the Bolognese association Ansabbio, which has always given a smile to children and their families in such a complex moment. In an atmosphere full of emotion, Il Volo joined the ODV volunteers to distribute special gifts: sweets, backpacks, gadgets and signed t-shirts, symbols of closeness and affection.
An act of solidarity that honors the association’s commitment to making the treatment process less difficult. “In life, if you don’t share something about yourself with others, it’s like losing a game. You in the Ansabbio association make your life available to those who need it most, and we try to do the same with music. Today we return here to reinforce this message, if everyone implemented this way of living the world would be a better place”, stated the three singers, Pietro Barone, Gianluca Ginoble and Ignazio Boschetto (who was also born in Bologna).
For them it was not the first time: already in 2011 they ha supported the ‘Star Therapy’ project, the meeting between stars and children in hospital, of which over the years Vasco Rossi, Lucio Dalla, Gianni Morandi, Nek, Biagio Antonacci and many others.
“It is a therapy of amazement and good humor, and today the singers of Il Volo are a bit as if they were doctors, who prescribe smiles and joy”, said Dario Cirrone, alias ‘doctor surprise’, founder of the project and of the Asabbio association.
Next to him also Milena Fini and Monica Guberti, scientific and healthcare director of Rizzoli respectively, and a former special patient: Chiara Internullo, now honorary president of Ansabbio and always a fan of Il Volo, welcomed the musical trio by singing ‘Oi vita oi vita mia (‘o surdato ‘nnammurato)’, one of the most famous Neapolitan songs performed several times by the group.
A beautiful day of solidarity which saw the three stars of the musical group as protagonists, together with the city of Bologna. On January 17th Il Volo will return to these parts, to the Unipol Arena, for the stage of the new tour of Italian arenas, “Tutti per uno – Ad astra Live nei sports halls”.
If you were unable to open the original attached article, I will reveal the name of the person who wrote the article: ALICE PAVAROTTI, yes, she is Luciano Pavarotti’s daughter! 🥰
Il Volo visits the young patients of the Rizzoli hospital in Bologna.
WOMAN = 30 years of Ansabbio (National Association of Shows for the Benefit of Children in Hospital), 30 years of activity, you have said 30 years of good things.
GIANLUCA= If we all implemented this way of living, the world would be better. We try with our music to convey emotions, and always to support through our voice, even moments of comfort towards people, so thank you for the invitation, it is a great honor, we really want to be close to people and to all of you who dedicate your life to the people who need it, because in the end, we all need affection, kindness, we all need a hug from someone close to us, so we are happy to be here. ❤️
WOMAN= It’s not the first time you’ve come. (Il Volo had already been in 2011, see photo)
IGNAZIO= No, absolutely, when we can we always take the opportunity to come or do something, because in anonymity we do our things in a unique way.
I think that in life if you don’t give something of yourself to others, both to those who need it, but also to those who don’t need it, it’s like losing a game, and that’s one of the reasons why we are here. ❤️
WOMAN= You have many fans here at Rizzoli (hospital) among the young patients.
PIERO= We have received a lot in life and we are aware of this, we know that we have many fans here and it is right to help people and I believe that the best way to help them is to dedicate time to them. We are here to dedicate even the little time we have available and I believe that these things are good for everyone, in particular they are good for the soul.❤️
At the end of the video the final words of Il Volo:
We have learned your motto by heart: “All for a smile and a smile for all, good life to all.” ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t add words to all this, I only confirm the high quality of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, three very good and talented artists with big hearts! ❤️❤️❤️
A truly beautiful concert where Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero were very welcome and highly applauded guests and where they shared the stage with the tenor Joseph Calleja who respects them very much and who often includes Il Volo songs in his concerts. Here are some moments from the event.
From Malta they moved on to Monte Carlo, where on December 22nd Il Volo participated in a private event.
……and where Il Volo lent itself to a nice surprise, a marriage proposal….how sweet ❤️
Also on 22 December, in Italy, on Canale 5 Il Volo was present at the VERISSIMO broadcast, hosted by Silvia Toffanin and previously recorded.
Here is Il Volo in Verissimo backstage.
It’s always a pleasure to see Gianluca, Piero and Ignazio in Silvia Toffanin’s living room. The broadcast lasted half an hour, this time I won’t translate, because nothing new was said, it seemed more like a pleasant chat to anticipate and present the Christmas Concert in Agrigento which would be held a couple of days later on the same television network. However, I attach the video of the evening.
I know that people like Silvia Toffanin a lot, she is truly a beautiful and non-invasive presence, who knows how to put people at ease. As she has said several times, she loves Il Volo.
Silvia appeared for the first time on Canale 5 in 2000, she was 21 years old and had the role of a beautiful, friendly and discreet presence in the program PASSAPAROLA, where she and other girls impersonated the LETTERINE.
She was immediately courted by Pier Silvio Berlusconi, and a year later they became a permanent couple. They are currently a couple in life since 2021 and have two children.
Pier Silvio Berlusconi is the son of Silvio Berlusconi, founder of Mediaset and who died in 2023. Pier Silvio is CEO of Mediaset.
Pier Silvio and Silvia have always been a very discreet couple, far from the spotlight and scandals and are a very close-knit couple in life. Before Christmas, during the final episode of a program presented by Silvia, Pier Silvio surprised her by arriving on live television.
Canale 5 is part of the large MEDIASET family which boasts television channels (Canale 5, Italia 1, Rete 4) and more in the communications sector.
Silvio Berlusconi really appreciated Il Volo and had told his son Pier Silvio to put them under contract, in fact, this summer Il Volo renewed an agreement with Canale 5 for another two years and this agreement includes TUTTI PER UNO (ALL FOR ONE) concerts.
On December 18th, Pier Silvio held a lovely party for Mediaset employees, to wish them a Merry Christmas, he made a beautiful speech of respect and admiration towards all his employees. The party was enlivened by the songs of Il Volo.
In the days preceding Christmas, Pier Silvio’s greeting message was broadcast on the Mediaset television networks, recorded with the song Il Volo!! in the background.
“This Christmas celebrate your family, it is the greatest gift that life has given us. Merry Christmas from the great Mediaset family.”
Finally on December 23rd, returning from Monte Carlo, Ignazio, Gianluca and Piero can return to their family to spend the Christmas holidays and see the beautiful Christmas concert from Agrigento, which I have already made a post about in detail. 🥰
The first photos of Ignazio and Michelle in the privacy of their home at Christmas also arrive, they are adorable!! ❤️❤️
Many newspapers also wrote articles about Il Volo during this period.
But the article that I found most interesting, because it tells us something new, is the one from VANITY FAIR ITALIA which I translate for you. 😉
Gianluca Ginoble, Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto of Il Volo respond to Proust’s questionnaire.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Ignazio Boschetto: Having the time to be able to do everything I would like to do.
Piero Barone: Having full awareness of what is a safe haven for you, in the sense of knowing where to return and knowing what family is.
Gianluca Ginoble: Feeling fully in tune with yourself, in the balance between authenticity, freedom and love.
When do you lie?
Ignazio: I almost never lie. There is a Sicilian saying that says “better to blush once than to pale a hundred times”. I therefore prefer to tell the truth even when I’m wrong.”
Gianluca: I usually lie either to avoid unnecessary conflicts or to protect someone, a person I love.
Piero: I lie when there is a need to maintain balance between us. Of course, telling the truth is fundamental, but every now and then a lie is necessary.” What do you like least about your appearance?
Ignazio: The cheeks, the signs of acne
Piero: The ears
Gianluca: My nails because I eat them
What is the phrase or word you use most often?
Piero: Problems are born to be solved
Gianluca: Awareness
What is the greatest love of your life?
Ignazio: Doing everything to remain myself.
Gianluca: That healthy self-love, which is not presumption or arrogance, but the ability not to betray oneself.
Piero: Instinctively I say my family. And then the sea.
Who is the living person you despise the most?
Ignazio: The answer would be too intimate, contempt is something bad that you just have to keep inside.
Gianluca: Each of us can express a judgement, but we should get to the point where we don’t really despise anyone.
Who is the living person you admire most?
Piero: Here I appeal to the possibility of lying, lying to maintain the right balance.
Gianluca: My mother.
What is your least favorite thing?
Ignazio: I hate being blackmailed, doing something because I’m forced.
Gianluca: The pineapple in the pizza.
Piero: The anxiety, the tension.
What is your biggest fear?
Ignazio: No longer being able to give more value to someone or something.
Gianluca: Living with remorse and with the regret of having betrayed myself due to external circumstances or in order not to disregard the expectations of others.
Piero: The darkness.
What is your biggest extravagance?
Ignazio: Sympathy.
Piero: The irony.
Gianluca: The freedom to express myself in every form, to dress as I want, to live without labels and prejudices, letting my identity manifest itself without compromise.
What talent would you most like to have?
Piero: Knowing how to cook.
Ignazio: Knowing how to draw well.
How would you like to die?
Ignazio: Without realizing it.
Piero: Without guilt.
Gianluca: Dying without being afraid of dying.
Your favorite writers?
Ignazio: I like detective books. Michael Connelly. And Agassi’s book.
Piero: I like many writers, but as a Sicilian I really liked The Lions of Sicily by Stefania Auci.
Gianluca: Herman Hesse
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
Gianluca: The ability to listen without any judgement.
Piero: The ability they have to take me on a completely different path to that of my work. When I’m with them, I forget about the tours, the rehearsals, the music.”
Ignazio: Of my friends, who are not many, I admire that they love me unconditionally, without needing a reason to do so.
Where would you like to live?
Piero: At the sea.
Gianluca: Where I have lived for 15 years, I have never wanted to move.
Ignazio: More than a place, I’m interested in who. Today I couldn’t live without my wife.”
What is your current state of mind?
Gianluca: Restless.
Piero: Serene and also enthusiastic.
Ignazio: Proactive, exciting, sparkling.
What are your favorite names?
Gianluca: Future
Piero: Eleonora
Ignazio: Bianca
Gianluca: We all said women’s names… we would all like to have a daughter.
Ignazio: I can’t wait to do her ponytail with the vacuum cleaner, like in the social tutorials. 😂
What is your favorite occupation?
Piero: Playing tennis.
Gianluca: Writing the diary every day, writing my emotions, thoughts, writing poems.
Ignazio: Tennis, padel (pickle ball), and being in the studio.
What is your motto?
All for one.
What is your greatest achievement?
Ignazio: I think that at 30 a man, understood as a human being, feels satisfied if he has achieved emotional and economic independence. For me, the fact that I succeeded is a huge achievement.
Piero: I believe that the most important thing is to cultivate credibility.
Gianluca: Control your emotions.
Little by little we have reached the end of the year and Ignazio and Gianluca let us discover how they will spend the end of 2024.
Ignazio with Michelle and friends.🥰
Gianluca with Claudia and friends.🥰
The year 2025 has arrived.
On January 4, the POOH concert, recorded this summer in Venice in Piazza San Marco, was broadcast on Canale 5.
During the concert to confirm their great friendship, Il Volo sang two songs with Pooh: PIERRE and UOMINI SOLI.
Great words of friendship, respect and esteem between Il Volo and Pooh!
Backstage with Michelle Hunziker, presenter and great friend. 🥰
As I write to you it is January 6th, the Epiphany, the Christmas holidays are over, the new year has begun and soon there will be the start of the Il Volo tour in the Palasports, but before the tour we will see them in some television programs in in which they took part and which have not yet been broadcast. So, see you soon.
I leave you with this beautiful video published today by Michelle, relating to the wedding between her and Ignazio. In addition to the beautiful images, listen to Ignazio’s beautiful voice in the song written by him for the wedding and sung in Spanish.❤️❤️
I begin this first publication of 2025 by wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Then I jump back almost a month, during the period immediately preceding Christmas 2024, Il Volo was present at many television and radio events, concerts and even interviews in newspapers, there were so many commitments that I was unable to forward and translate them all to you, so I thought I’d do it just to the most significant ones. But the Christmas Concert was so looming that I had to leave out the timeline of the events and then present them again now in a moment of relative calm before the concerts begin in the Italian sports halls.
December 15th, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca were interviewed by the beautiful Andrea De Logu on RAI RADIO 2 in the program LA VERSIONE DI ANDREA.
Andrea gave them a truly fantastic introduction with words of great admiration, furthermore, good questions were asked and the topic of hackers was also addressed.
It’s a radio interview, but in some moments short videos were also published which I will attach to you. I will translate all for you below the link.
Not everyone will be able to view this video link below. But I include the link in case you are able.
ANDREA= Welcome to Rai Radio 2, this is ANDREA’S VERSION.
But how wonderful, today the studio is really full, it’s full of artists that I really asked for loudly, I almost forced them to come, I begged their agency, so they were a bit forced, but I will introduce them after the word of the day.
The word of the day dedicated to them is PRODIGY. From the Latin PRODIGIUM, in ancient times it was understood as an announcement of divine will or of things that would then happen, in any case something that was out of the ordinary. This meaning has remained over time, in fact today with PRODIGY we mean a phenomenon that goes beyond the natural order of things or people who manage to do things beyond the natural order of things.
Welcome to Il Volo, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca, you are prodigies. ❤️❤️❤️
IGNAZIO= My goodness, what a presentation!
GIANLUCA= Incredible!
PIERO= Let’s go!
ANDREA= Guys, I chose the words for you because you did something that had never been done before and you were the first.
PIERO= Can we come as guests every day just to hear an introduction like this?
GIANLUCA= Look, if there is a lack of self-esteem, coming in here helps us…..
ANDREA= I’ll send you voice messages if you need them every now and then.
IGNAZIO= Really!
ANDREA= Now let’s listen to a song and then let’s talk about you almost from your beginnings.
(song begins: Let it snow!)
ANDREA= Rai Radio 2, “La Versione di Andrea”, I am in the studio together with the three guys from Il Volo. Three guys, can we still say that? Three artists.
GIANLUCA= Of course.
PIERO= We are 30 years old!
IGNAZIO= Well, now up to 55 years old you are a boy today!😁
ANDREA= 55?
GIANLUCA= If you don’t call 60 year olds “boys” they will be offended today and we are still 30 years old.😁
IGNAZIO= Let’s say that from 30 to 60 are guys grown up.
PIERO= At 60 you start to be an adult.😁
GIANLUCA= Greetings to all the 60 year olds who are listening to us.
ANDREA= Hi guys, hi guys everyone. So, we have an hour together, I really want to tell you where you started from….
PIERO= One hour, they told me 5 minutes…😁
ANDREA= They made a mistake, I don’t know where you can go Piero, afterwards, you have other things to do after me! Your story together begins in 2009, but who were you before that moment? You were very young, but what did you want to do? What were your dreams?
IGNAZIO= I’m very honest, I had no intention of being a singer, I didn’t think of becoming famous or even making a career out of music, I liked singing, but it was more of a hobby, I didn’t imagine making records, concerts…
ANDREA= All over the world, by the way.
IGNAZIO= ….I imagined being a vet, or studying or working in the family pizzeria, things like that.
ANDREA= And you? Why does only Ignazio answer the questions?
GIANLUCA= One at a time if all three of us answer….
PIERO= At fourteen it is difficult to understand, already at twenty and thirty years old existential crises arise about what to do in life, imagine at fourteen. Personally I only knew how to do that, I only knew how to sing, but not because I was studying to become something, just because I liked singing, it was what I felt inside me and therefore I expressed it by singing. So I was studying piano and began to approach music but I hadn’t planned to make it my life’s work.
ANDREA= Then you were very young, it was difficult to think of a job, but the dream, your dream could be similar to his.
PIERO= We realized seven years ago that it had then become a job, not fifteen years ago.
ANDREA= Stop everyone, I have to write this down.
GIANLUCA= I believe that the singer’s life, apart from taking responsibility and understanding how things work, for me an artist never becomes adult, he is an eternal child who goes on stage and has fun, so in reality it is the same euphoria as when we were 15 years old. My dream was to become a singer, or rather, make a living from music.
ANDREA= It’s true, this thing is beautiful, thank goodness you never grow up, because if you grow something breaks, it’s always magic, but explain to me this thing that you only understood 7 years ago…..
PIERO= I only said that 7 years ago to say a number, but the fact of becoming adult is never true, but the approach to everyday life, to the commitment one puts into planning projects, live recording commitments, team work what is done with the structure with which you work, therefore the management, the discography is more, so in the morning you wake up and you know that you have to work to achieve the objectives, while before at 17, 18 years old, up to 23, 24 years, things came to you, because there was the manager who worked and told you: “Guys we did this and this, okay?” Now we wake up, call and ask what needs to be done!
ANDREA= Have you noticed at some point that you have lost a part of your youth, maybe being with friends, being at the football field, I don’t know.
IGNAZIO= It would be stupid to say no, but there were moments where we missed it, but looking back at what we did then, we acquired many other things, for example there are kids who only spoke Italian at 18, we had the lucky to learn English, Spanish…
ANDREA= Wow it’s true.
IGNAZIO= ….traveling the world, knowing how to manage situations that are difficult to manage at 18, or perhaps you have never found yourself…
ANDREA= …having to manage. What is it like to be world famous?
GIANLUCA= I believe that you shouldn’t identify with success, which if you lose it could be harmful to your mental health.
We talk about it with our friends, with the people who are close to us, for example my cousin or my brother. We missed that life as a boy, university, or high school, or those experiences we had as a boy even if we made mistakes. On the contrary, we took on responsibility at the age of 14, we became economically independent at a premature age and therefore this leads you to live a life with a certain rigor. But on the other hand, we had fun, as Ignazio said, we did some things, which are dreams…
ANDREA= Incredible! Now let’s listen to another song, then some of yours will come too and I’ll tell you when I wanted to see you in Las Vegas, I was there for work and you were doing a concert, but unfortunately you sang the day after I left. (song “Born With a Broken Heart” plays)
ANDREA= RAI Radio 2, La Versione di Andrea, are together with Il Volo and we listened to Damiano David as a soloist.
With the microphones off I was speaking to you and we said that it is a great satisfaction when I am abroad and there is a concert by one of my compatriots I am happy to go because I feel proud and when I worked in Las Vegas for a year I went to seeing Andrea Bocelli and there were so many people, it was satisfying, I was excited and wanted to come and see you. One afternoon I went for a walk and I saw a big, or rather mega, giant billboard of Il Volo with your faces and I felt so proud!! 🤩
PIERO= Wasn’t it the Ita-Arlines advertisement?? (he’s joking because Il Volo (the Flight) could advertise the Italian airline). 😁
ANDREA= No, it wasn’t that….. you were dressed in blue!
GIANLUCA= It wouldn’t be a bad idea, as ambassador! 😁
ANDREA= We could write to Ita-AIRLINES. It was very nice to see you there, then I couldn’t bring myself to come and see you (the concert was the day after Andrea’s departure), and I made up for this summer in Cattolica, a solo concert there too, all crazy people screaming and you are showmen, you make people laugh on stage, as well as being very good.
IGNAZIO= You make people laugh on stage in what sense?? 😁
ANDREA= Not in that sense Ignazio, stop looking for something rotten in what I say.
GIANLUCA= Don’t misrepresent the words! She’s paying us a compliment, come on!
ANDREA= You are very nice, people laugh out loud when you make jokes, when you do your skits and then you do your songs.
IGNAZIO= Many of those little scenes are never prepared, that is, many are spontaneous.
PIERO= You have to ask our staff if they prepare the scenes, they just give us some -pills- and we talk.
ANDREA= But this thing works so well because you know each other so well.
PIERO= There is a lot of harmony, but there is also a lot of trust between us, somehow we know where to stop with the jokes and then get back into the serious moment. All three of us are binary and always manage to balance well.
IGNAZIO = Every now and then you two break balls, but yes, you are binary.
PIERO= Sometimes the train (Ignazio) also goes about its own business. 😁
ANDREA= You mean Ignazio.
PIERO= Yes, always just him.😁
ANDREA= But I noticed that finally after a few years, there was an image of you that was too serious, perhaps it wasn’t yet the time for social media…..
PIERO= Now we have new teeth so we have started to smile!! 😂
ANDREA= But why did I make you talk! I was wrong! For a long time you seemed serious, very competent, very good, but at a certain point, perhaps when you began to have the possibility of doing a little more pop interviews and touring the radio a little more, it turned out that you are very nice. Was it your request or did it happen?
IGNAZIO= Can I ask a question? When do you think it happened? When did it change?
ANDREA= I noticed it after your first Sanremo.
IGNAZIO= With GRANDE AMORE, you must know that then there was a change. Speaking freely, you must know that our musical genre is difficult to work with, you have to be very intelligent and patient above all. We came to Sanremo from many things done outside Italy and every time we did interviews in Italy, there was a sort of negativity towards us, which was then canceled out by the victory in Sanremo which made us a little more credible even to the Italian public, it is complicated to explain.
ANDREA= I realize it.
IGNAZIO= Also because you know some dynamics that people at home don’t know about our environment.
PIERO= You must also understand the perception of the public, if you arrive and sing O Sole Mio, Torna a Surriento, these songs which perhaps abroad are clearly appreciated for bel canto, for Italian culture, for tradition, it is clear that perhaps in Italy I’m a bit, let me say, tired of listening to these songs.
IGNAZIO= But I’m talking about our change.
PIERO= Then we arrive with the unreleased one, with Grande Amore in Italy and it is clear that it changes, and therefore we also started to build our own repertoire.
IGNAZIO= But I’m talking about our change and it’s easier when you also have the respect of people. We arrived on the show knowing that there was a general snob towards us, so we didn’t feel like smiling….
ANDREA= Of course!
PIERO= We arrived in a place and we knew that there were already prejudices….🤬
ANDREA= Yes, there were walls that you had to try to break down but it was tiring…
GIANLUCA= We were also younger.
IGNAZIO= There were prejudices on the other side and also on our side. 🤬
ANDREA= Okay, you protected yourselves.
IGNAZIO= We were even smaller, you understand? Then when we arrived at Sanremo, we won and gained credibility in our world, in the internal world of the music business and also the television world and with the strength of the large audience at home who supported us.
ANDREA= And he loves you!
IGNAZIO= Yes, and that was a great strength for us and is the reason why today we are respected and every time we make a television program we set ratings records. 😍
ANDREA= Of course!
IGNAZIO= But not only for us, but thanks to the affection that the people at home have for us, understand? We are very grateful for this! ❤️
ANDREA= It’s your strength, you are great artists and you are very, very, very nice, I have always supported this even with our group, that we need to make you talk more because you provide entertainment and it is rare, especially because there are three of you and this thing, if there isn’t a great affinity, will end up getting ruined. Now let’s listen to one of your pieces, do you want to announce it, as if you were on the radio?
GIANLUCA= We can also do the radio voice. (he makes a sexy voice) 😍
ANDREA= Amazing, go, do it!
GIANLUCA= Hello to all Rai Radio2 listeners….
IGNAZIO= (he immediately interrupts Gianluca with a nasal voice)😁…you are listening to CAPOLAVORO by Il Volo….
GIANLUCA= …..directly from NARO in Agrigento (with a voice with a Sicilian accent) 😁
IGNAZIO= Let’s say that with this song we wanted to express all our humility starting from the title 😂, taking inspiration from our friend and dear colleague Gianluca Ginoble. 😂 Ladies and gentlemen: CAPOLAVORO (start the song)
ANDREA= RAI RADIO 2 La Versione di Andrea, this was a CAPOLAVORO.
Now I’m saying it, I told you I wouldn’t say it live but I’m saying it: guys even a sexy twist, watching the video, yes come on! It’s a nice video.
IGNAZIO= Look how satisfied Gianluca feels by this statement of yours.
PIERO= Only he answers, look at him.
ANDREA= Go Gianluca, I won’t stop you.
GIANLUCA= We are satisfied, because we were born as a pop-classical product and we are also based on the repertoire of tradition, of the past, but this does not mean that there should not be a propensity for a different vision….
IGNAZIO= But you don’t know how much we fought to get Piero Barone to wear a tank top!! 😁
ANDREA= (she laughs) in what sense??
IGNAZIO= To show off his muscles. 😁💪
ANDREA= So, for those who aren’t watching us right now on digital terrestrial channel 202, know that Piero has his arms folded and is shaking his head NO.
Why didn’t you want to, didn’t they immediately convince you to wear the tank top?
PIERO= Just think, that tank top remained inside my suitcase and I threw it away, I suffered a trauma.
IGNAZIO= But why?
PIERO= Because in that video I had my jacket over my tank top, at a certain point I took off my jacket and the director, the stylist: “No, but you have to show these muscles, look there”…
ANDREA= Because you train so much.
PIERO= But I train for myself, not to show others, I’m not like that, I don’t like people who want to show off their abs, because they’re not the only ones with abs. I don’t like visible abs, I find it rude. 😍
ANDREA= Why are you looking at Gianluca?
GIANLUCA= Because they want to pass me off as Narcissus who is reflected in the water…
ANDREA= Is Gianluca teasing you?
PIERO= No, it’s not true, he knows that I’m against these things, showing off your abs, but it’s my problem, my limit. Imagine that I had to do it, personally, they managed to convince me, but I had the video put in dim light.
ANDREA= Anyway it’s a beautiful video!
GIANLUCA= He didn’t want to show himself and that’s right, everyone is done in their own way.
PIERO= This means living together…
ANDREA= You are three people with different ideas.
PIERO= ….coexistence is made of compromises, the important thing is to always find the meeting point. 😍
ANDREA= How do you manage the fans who are in love with you, those who are a little more present, who follow you, I know that Ignazio you have only recently married…
IGNAZIO= You know Andrea, it would be a discussion to explore further, because it is more serious than you think. If you take the lightest part, the most incredible part that a fan falls in love with you, it’s a platonic love, but that she would do anything, it’s incredible to think that. But then there is the dark part that becomes a problem and if he speaks too little, it is a big problem that has been emerging in recent years, not only with us, but with many artists, there are fans…..
ANDREA= Who get obsessed….
IGNAZIO= …..who become obsessed, but it’s not just the obsession (at this point there is a video of the interview and pay attention to what Ignazio says)
IGNAZIO= We have a very adult audience that follows us on social media.
It often happens that they get fooled, or they believe these people who pass themselves off as us and lead them to believe…
ANDREA= They deceive them.
IGNAZIO= Yes, ladies who are hundreds of thousands of dollars or euros in debt. So it’s a much more serious issue than it seems.
ANDREA= My goodness, this is very serious!
PIERO= We tried in some way to publish and deny this thing. Clearly Ignazio said something important just now, the older audience didn’t grow up with the phone in their hands….
ANDREA= They don’t know how to protect themselves.
PIERO= We younger people immediately perceive what the fake is from the real on a social and media level. Much older people may be less experienced.
ANDREA= They fall into the trap.
PIERO= Exactly, so we would also like to amplify this thing, and denounce the fact that there are some poor unfortunates who do something completely different in life to cheat people.
ANDREA= However, your social networks have the verification checkbox, so it is exclusively you.
PIERO= We manage our social networks in a very professional way, we have a name to protect which is Il Volo, so we have a team, a structure that takes care of that, for personal things we have other applications, like Whatsapp where we write to our friends our private life, but we don’t need to respond to a person we don’t know and go and screw them. So Ignazio was right to raise the topic.
IGNAZIO= Because little is said about it, because it happens to other artists too, not just us.
ANDREA= I didn’t know, I didn’t think it would happen.
GIANLUCA= It’s the first time we’ve done this, we make an appeal here on RAI RADIO 2 with you, because it is important that our fans, you were right to say it, are a little more careful!
IGNAZIO= Every now and then I do something right.
ANDREA= you did the right thing. Be careful. Every now and then we will also re-tell it here on RAI RADIO 2, to prevent anyone from falling for it.
IGNAZIO= Then let’s not give false news, like the one that Piero bought a house in Malibu!
ANDREA= What??? Let’s listen to a song and then come back. (song starts)
ANDREA= Rai Radio2, La Versione di Andrea. For those who are currently connected to channel 202 of digital terrestrial, you can see that a boy from Il Volo is missing. Do we want to say who went there and why did they go?
IGNAZIO= We are good friends and I don’t want to say…
GIANLUCA= Piero, he couldn’t resist, he needed to get some air.
ANDREA= While we wait for him to come back, I made a very short list because in reality there are so many famous people that you have met from the world of music and that we dream of them…he’s coming back (Piero).
GIANLUCA= Here it is, here it is!
ANDREA= You left the studio without saying anything.
PIERO= Even those from Il Volo go to the bathroom! 😁
ANDREA= So: Beyoncè, you met Lady Gaga, at the hairdresser with Priscilla Presley, you had a chat with Sharon Stone, Laura Pausini adores you….
PIERO= How do you know these things?
ANDREA= I prepared for this interview, I could have called Gianluca and asked him to tell me things, but no!
GIANLUCA= Indeed you surprise us.
ANDREA= I did some research…
GIANLUCA= Super professional.
ANDREA= I want to get to: Did you really tour with Mariah Carey?
IGNAZIO= We had to.
ANDREA= Did you have to do it?
GIANLUCA= In Brazil.
ANDREA= And then what happened?
IGNAZIO= I don’t know if you can say…it wasn’t our fault, let’s say so.
PIERO= Basically, since it was September and it was freezing, for pre-Christmas (a few years ago)…
GIANLUCA= (he corrects Piero on an incorrect pronunciation) These Sicilian boys are like this, I greet all Sicilians and also those from Abruzzo. 😁
ANDREA= But how many languages do you know? English, Spanish, Italian….
PIERO= The one who knows more languages you must know…..
IGNAZIO= It’s me (he sticks out his tongue) 😂
ANDREA= Ignazio please, be serious.
IGNAZIO= I’m very serious.
PIERO= It’s really Ignazio, he also speaks Portuguese. In fact, when we do concerts in Brazil, only he speaks.
ANDREA= So in Brazil you don’t do your dialogues between the songs?
IGNAZIO= No, we do them, even if my Portuguese is a bit rusty.
ANDREA= We know, it’s been seen everywhere, you recently got married.
IGNAZIO= Yes, I recently got married. ❤️
ANDREA= And your wife speaks Spanish.
IGNAZIO= Yes, she is Venezuelan, Italian-Venezuelan.
PIERO= Michelle speaks Italian.
IGNAZIO= Yes, she speaks Italian, but between us we speak Spanish and it seems strange when we are with friends and we speak Italian. 😍😍
ANDREA= Really??
PIERO= Michelle speaks Italian with me.
IGNAZIO= She speaks Italian with you, but he speaks Spanish with me.❤️
ANDREA= Do you see your colleagues or your wife more?
IGNAZIO= It’s a good question.
ANDREA= I know!
IGNAZIO= In this period I have seen more of them (Piero and Gianluca), since I got married I have seen more of them.
ANDREA= This makes marriage last longer, because when you don’t see each other much you want each other.
PIERO= In fact, this is why Gianluca and I are making the times longer!!
IGNAZIO= I want my wife even if I see her all the time. ❤️
ANDREA= I imagine, also because she is wonderful!
IGNAZIO= Otherwise I wouldn’t get married.
ANDREA= Of course.
GIANLUCA= Desire is born from lack, so it’s better this way.
IGNAZIO= Do you have any other questions? (he wants to change the subject) 😁
ANDREA= I have to move on, we can leave this part of love alone and now I want to talk about Christmas with you. I know Christmas is soon. Do you feel Christmas or doing so many concerts even during the holidays, does it weigh on you?
PIERO= We feel it much more than the others, because we know and it is guaranteed that those 3-4 days of Christmas, we are at home.
ANDREA= And so stay with the family.
PIERO= We plan the calendar together with our team and sometimes you know, in August we try to find those 5-6 days free for a bit of holidays and also stop for a bit for the body, but Christmas is sure that we stay at home, then we are always on the move and many cousins or brothers have had the opportunity to move house to follow their personal goals, but at Christmas we all return to the nest, to the safe haven. ❤️
ANDREA= And so have family dinners, cook.
PIERO= Find the Christmas tree ready.
ANDREA= How beautiful!
IGNAZIO= I’ll make the Christmas tree at home.
PIERO= I always made my mother do it.
ANDREA= Are they waiting for you for the tree?
IGNAZIO= At my house, my wife and I, the tree. This year we did it at the beginning of November, because then we (Il Volo) left, we weren’t there.
PIERO= How can you say it’s a ritual if it’s the first Christmas you’ve had together?
IGNAZIO= Because then it will always be like this, and it’s the second Christmas, anyway.
ANDREA= Ah, it’s the second Christmas. Guys, this interview is too quick. Ok now let’s launch the new single, who wants to launch it?
GIANLUCA= Let’s launch the new single, I’ll be the radio voice.
It is called TRA LE ONDE and is part of this musical project that began with CAPOLAVORO in 2024, we worked for a year and a half with authors, who, like psychoanalysts, got to know us in depth to understand what our personal, emotional needs were , because in any case in 15 years of our career we made the first album of unreleased songs in 2024, so the first album of unreleased songs arrived after 15 years, so we are very proud of this pop influence that we have put into our style without losing our personality, which was a huge challenge for us, trying not to emulate pop but to make pop enter bel canto.
ANDREA = And you did it!
GIANLUCA= We are very satisfied and this song is titled TRA LE ONDE
ANDREA= Rai Radio 2 La Versione di Andrea: TRA LE ONDE
PIERO= Well sung.
ANDREA= Sorry, I’m a little toneless.
GIANLUCA= We’ll be waiting for you in the Palasports to sing it at the top of your lungs in January.
ANDREA= Look what a professional, you get lost in chatter.
PIERO= In your opinion, before going out the door we wouldn’t have talked about the dates of the indoor stadiums?
ANDREA= All for one / Ad Astra live in the sports halls of Italy, there are a lot of dates here, guys.
PIERO= In the month of January we will do this tour of the sports halls of Italy starting from Iesolo…
ANDREA= Milan, Treviso, Bologna, Eboli, Bari, Messina, I told them, I was quick, but they’re all on your social networks.
PIERO= Immediately afterwards, whoever wants to get a ticket to the United States, we leave in February/March/April.
ANDREA= What a beauty, guys!
PIERO= Then who wants to leave for South America: September/October. Who wants to leave for Europe: November/December.
ANDREA= I’m almost coming to Paris on November 30th.
PIERO= Nice!
GIANLUCA= At Zenith.
ANDREA= Almost, almost.
GIANLUCA= I want to tell those who came to the concert this summer….
ANDREA= Like me!
GIANLUCA=…..exactly, it is important to say that the one in the sports halls is a very different concert, we will present a different type of show, which can also embrace a wider audience, which is not only linked to those who listen to and love bel canto . However, there will be songs from the new album and then we are structuring the show on a musical level with many surprises.
ANDREA= And there will be your speeches…
GIANLUCA ….and many songs, in short, a party.
ANDREA= I can say it’s a party. In Jesolo, at a certain point, they had to interrupt to seat the people in the first seats who had gotten up to dance.
GIANLUCA= You know the beautiful thing that we have understood in recent years, that for example doing TUTTI PER UNO from the Arena, in these concerts it was wonderful to see the guests of all generations who attended and who accepted the invitation and with we rearranged the songs and sang together. There are things that can strike the public, mix the classic with the po and demonstrate our artistic flexibility which is still important.
ANDREA= And what is it.
GIANLUCA= Exactly, this was our goal, both with the album and with the television program.
ANDREA= Where does Il Volo want to go?
IGNAZIO= I think that objectives are achieved by creating a path, and that’s what we are doing. Certainly from day one our goal has been to make known our musical genre which is bel canto and try to bring it in a 2.0 key to the present day, without ever losing the essence of the bel canto of our Italian culture, in Italy . Then in America, in the world, you don’t really need a lot of work for our musical genre, because they appreciate it as it is anyway. In Italy, it is rightly part of our culture and you have to make something new heard and this is why AD ASTRA was born, because it brings bel canto to something more current. 🤩
ANDREA= Do you ever feel alone when you are abroad? You travel a lot, you have made many stops, you told me before that you visited three cities (countries) around the world in three different days.
GIANLUCA= That’s the work, then after the concerts we go back to the room alone, everyone in their own room, you know that you will be alone and for this reason you have to feel good about yourself and therefore the work on yourself also helped. When you are 14, 15 years old, you are abroad, you have to approach people you don’t know, that too is a type of rigor in education, in knowing how to talk to people, in being on a stage, as you say, we are on a stage since we were 15, our second home. So when we get off the stage, we try to feel good about ourselves but above all the three of us get along, which is also an example to set. It’s not easy being together for 15 years, many groups have disbanded, precisely because the ego is the ruin of anything, even presumption or showing that you are necessarily right. There are compromises.
ANDREA= Wow, 15 years old, three people with different personalities….I got divorced after 4 years….
IGNAZIO= After 4 years?
ANDREA= That’s how it went, he left me anyway, then I took revenge… it’s not true!! I suffered in silence and then I recovered.
GIANLUCA= Well done! This is how you deal with pain.
ANDREA= I wanted to ask our director if I have time to play the game now? Shall we do it later? Now let’s listen to a song and then play a game (the song starts).
I’m here with Il Volo, you were singing Cesare Cremonini’s song (Italian singer, song just broadcast).
GIANLUCA= Yes, Cesare kept me company around the world (he means that while he was on tour he listened to Cremonini’s songs). Caesar has been one of my favorites since I was a child. I say hello to him and if he’s listening I’ll go and see him on his stadium tour.
ANDREA= So we’ll see you there and who knows if he’ll come to see you too. But now I’ll play you a game, let’s see what you answer. (Following is the tower game which consists of throwing the people you are least interested in from the tower and saving the most precious ones for Il Volo, I won’t translate it for you because you don’t know the many people listed, there is a video of the moment which I attach.)
ANDREA= Now I have to let you go.
PIERO= An hour has passed.
ANDREA= Yes, it flew by.
GIANLUCA= Very pleasant.
IGNAZIO= We have the last minute and a half.
GIANLUCA= Come on, the last question.
ANDREA= I want an answer: “What image do you have on your cell phone screen?”
PIERO= My sister and with every block, she changes her image! 🥰
ANDREA= So Piero has an image of his sister that is constantly changing, what’s her name?
PIERO= Mariagrazia.
ANDREA= Hi Mariagrazia. Ignazio has the wedding photo.
IGNAZIO= It’s before the civil marriage, my wife does my hair.❤️
ANDREA= Cute!! And who are these? The granddaughters? (she asks Piero)
PIERO= The nieces, not my brother’s but my cousin’s, I’m crazy about them: Matilde and Miranda.
ANDREA= Everything in the family and you? (to Gianluca)
GIANLUCA= Two shadows on the sand. (it’s the wallpaper on Gian’s cell phone) 😍
ANDREA= I won’t ask you anything, but it’s very beautiful.
IGNAZIO= He’s changed it now, anyway.
PIERO= He’s changed it now.
ANDREA= Stop it! Now I’ll let you go.
Your phobia?
PIERO= The darkness.
IGNAZIO= Losing the sense of the value of things and relationships.
GIANLUCA= Kill oh!
ANDREA= Now let’s see what you say Gianluca.
GIANLUCA= I’ll throw it out there…ignorance. (laughter)
ANDREA= I remind you TUTTI PER UNO/ AD ASTRA in the Palasports from January 2025 (you list the cities).
Thank you very much to Il Volo, see you on your tour!
G+P+I= We look forward to seeing you all in January, thank you!!
A truly beautiful interview with new questions and answers which, as always, reveal parts of Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca’s characters and we like what we learn infinitely.
Then the updated list of 2025 tour dates was published, and there are more and more!!
It was a long translation job but I hope you enjoyed understanding what was said, just as I enjoyed listening to it and translating it for you.
Congratulations to Andrea Delugu and always many compliments and thanks to Ignazio, Gianluca and PIero for what they know how to express so well.
I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that the guys have spent the whole year running. They’ve been everywhere and done so much that it’s hard to remember it all! It all comes down to Christmas, New Years and New Beginnings!
The years are just flying by and I’m watching the guys create a whole new career! Their concerts are beyond phenomenal. They’ve produced music that is so creative and innovative! Their TV concerts are knocking it out of the box!!! There’s no holding them back!
And how about all that beautiful new music?
My stories, Through the Fields of My Mind, look to the past. Sometimes they’re new but mostly they’re old. Stories you’ve heard time and again because our guys for all their popularity and immense fame are really quite young, and their story is still being written. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could say we will be around to see the end of their story but no, most of us will be long gone before their story ends. We’ll have to watch the end unfold from above! But how fortunate we are that we have seen the beginning of their beautiful story.
This year, there were many twists and turns in their story. We started the year with a beautiful vision of Ignazio proposing to the beautiful, Michelle Bertolini.
And then there was Sanremo 2024!
I don’t know who was more excited! Us or the guys? I guess the guys!
How many different ways can you say Masterpiece! Capolavoro by far was the highlight of Sanremo! I know the guys didn’t win but what they brought to Sanremo was a winning team, a winning performance and the best video clip of Sanremo 2024!
Capolavoro truly deserved the Casa Sanremo ~ Soundies Award 2024! And of course, compliments to Leandro Manuel Emede Director, Nicolo Cerioni Creative Director and Cardigan srl Producer of the video!
Leandro Manuel Emede said, “Thanks to the jury of music and film experts of Casa Sanremo and to the President of the National Syndicate of Italian Cinematic Journalists (Sngci) of the Silver Ribbons for choosing our video clip as Best Video Clip Sanremo2024.”
The award for the best video clip was presented by Vincenzo Russolillo to Il Volo. The idea of this award was born from Russolillo himself and the award represents the first award in Italian history dedicated to the video clips of a song competing at the Sanremo Festival and intended for record companies.
When presenting the award to Il Volo, Russolillo said, “Your work has been selected by a high-quality jury, chaired by Laura Delli Colli, President of the National Union of Italian Film Journalists (SNGCI) of the Nastri d’Argento.”
Russolillo continued, “from the stage of the Lounge of Casa Sanremo, I deliver the Soundies Awards 2024 Award, on behalf of the Municipality of Sanremo from the hands of Councillor Sara Tonegutti, together with a voucher for the production of the next video clip to be made in the territory of the Municipality of Sanremo.
The trio took music to new heights through this video, exploring the stars and the mysteries of infinity. A visual odyssey that combines the musical talent of Il Volo with the grandeur of space, offering a sensory experience that defies the boundaries of imagination.”
Since Sanremo 2024, the guys have taken a beautiful turn in Italy. They have to be so happy to have their countrymen show such love and affection for them. They so deserve it. And certainly their concerts around Italy have been phenomenal! Verona, Caracalla, Pompeii to name a few.
The guys performance at Caracalla was a complete sellout. Fans flocked to the concert to help the guys kick off their summer tour around Italy and to celebrate their Fifteen Years together.
“Tutti per uno – Capolavoro,” which began at Caracalla continued throughout Italy until September. Highlights of the tour included performances at Piazza San Marco in Venice, the Amphitheater of the Pompeii Excavations, and the Royal Palace of Caserta. And so many more in between.
For nearly 15 years, Barbara Vitali traveled with the guys as their road manager. Barbara’s role as road manager went far beyond making sure all was going well along the way. She was there in good times and bad. She was there to share their joys and to console them in their sorrows. She was a second mother. Someone they could go to when their moms weren’t there.
Barbara was a beautiful soul, a person the guys came to depend on. But then on July 9th, Barbara passed away. Two days earlier on Sunday evening Barbara was in a tragic accident. There was a head-on collision and the man in the other car died immediately.
The guys were devastated! Let’s listen to their words….
Piero:We started this profession when we were 15 years old and we traveled the world and with us there has always been a person who traveled all over the world with us, every day.
She was a mother when we were younger, she was the person, the most important figure for us in our travels and we would like to publicly say that we, but above all our families, will be eternally grateful to her, because our parents when they knew that she was with us and we were with Barbara, they slept soundly.
It’s very difficult and this evening, this concert will be the first of all those we will dedicate to it throughout our lives.
Gianluca:We are all united, everyone, everyone, everyone for our Barbara, everyone, from the crew, from the technicians, from the musicians, from Michele Torpedine, all for her, because she was a special person who will continue to live inside us and will give us strength to continue doing this work, because we will sing for her, Barbara we will sing for you, for a lifetime, for a lifetime, we love you.
Ignazio:And as I said before, we would like to make this moment even more special if you help us with the flashes of your cell phones to illuminate the whole square, so for those who believe in it, someone from up there is watching us.
Dear Barbara, you will be dearly missed by the guys. They are heartbroken by your loss. You are gone from their sight but not their hearts. You will always be one of the reasons why Il Volo became who they are. Their greatness was your reward in life.
Between the tears they gave a phenomenal performance!
Such a sad event. But Barbara would not want the guys to be sad. Instead, she wanted them to have joyful lives.
As we move on through the year, we find ourselves at a very joyful event. The marriage of Ignazio and Michelle.
Following the guys from day one, I have to say Ignazio stood out. Even though he was young, he was mature, and he had a unique personality. He had direction! It seemed to me that he knew where he was going even at such a young age. He always had a plan. And from day one he started planning for his future.
Part of what Ignazio saw was a future that included a wife and at least three children.
As he got older, he became more determined to secure that future. He knew what was needed to achieve his goal. Once the goal was achieved, it was time to find the right woman.
Do you believe in coincidences? No, there are no coincidences in life. Everything happens for a reason. In fact, one of Ignazio’s favorite sayings is something his grandfather told him “everything happens for a reason.”
Just prior to dating Michelle, the guys recorded Capolavoro. A true masterpiece. Let’s consider some of the words to this song. They describe just about where Ignazio’s life was.
I felt lost
A sail in an open sea
And suddenly you, you
You fell from the sky like a masterpiece
(Suddenly there was Michelle)
Before you nothing was good
As if…. You were the only light giving things a meaning.
There are no coincidences in life!
It think that sums it up!
Now we have arrived at Christmas!
The Concert at the Temple of Concordia in the Valley of the Temples was the first concert ever performed in this historic place. This is what the guys had to say about it!
Ignazio: There is an ancient land, cradle of civilization and crossroads of cultures where the past meets the present…
Piero: ….and where the ancient breath of the sea embraces history, it is Sicily….
Gianluca: ….in the heart of this land there is a timeless place, which this night under the starry sky is immersed in a unique atmosphere, that of Christmas.
IL VOLO, CHRISTMAS IN AGRIGENTO was the idea of Michele Torpedine and Barbara Vitali.
Ignazio: Good evening and Merry Christmas to everyone from the VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES of Agrigento.
Piero: This place rich in history speaks to us of eternity, beauty and faith, and tonight it is dressed in a new, unprecedented light, that of Christmas.
I am personally proud because Agrigento will be the Italian Capital of Culture in 2025 and singing a few steps from home fills me, fills us with pride.
Gianluca: And in this union between past and present, between history and music, we will spend this evening together, as if we were truly family.
Ignazio: And after this whole introduction I would say that it’s time to get into the spirit of Christmas and therefore….maestro!!
This is the complete video of the Concert at Valley of Temples
Now to the Christmas celebration….
Among their beautiful stories are their traditional Christmases. In some cases, I have their actual Christmas traditions but in most it’s more about the tradition in their region of Italy.
Before I begin, I would like to talk a minute about La Vigilia. La Vigilia is the Italian traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This dinner consists of fish. Why? Because Italy is a primarily Catholic country and Christmas Eve, up until Vatican II, was always a day of fast to prepare for the coming of Christ. So, we only eat fish.
What is this, Vigilia? This is a tradition that started in southern Italy in the regions of Sicily, Calabria and parts of Campania. In these regions, people who live beside the sea are primarily fishermen, and they live off the sea. So, on the eve they not only celebrate the coming of Christ, but they also thank the Lord for the abundance of fish they received from the sea which sustains their families year-round.
In the early 1900’s when Italian immigrants came to America, they brought this tradition with them, and the next generation added to this tradition by celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fish. The number seven is symbolic in the Roman Catholic Church. It represents the seven days of creation, the seven sacraments, the seven deadly sins, etc.
Now, let’s step back into the past to see how our guys celebrate Christmas.
No need to update this story, it doesn’t change. Tradition is tradition! Three years ago, two people helped me write this story so I decided that I would not change anything in it. It turned out because of them the Christmas message was amazing! The two wonderful friends who helped me were our special little Nonna, Maura Pucci and Giovanni Granaro local historian and my go to man in Naro. Over ten thousand fans responded to the story! It gave us a look at the different Italian traditions and an insight into our guy’s Christmas. So, I am republishing the article with a few new and interesting facts added.
So, without further ado, let’s join Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca for Christmas with Our Italian Family
Yes, Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca are our family! Why do I call them family? We’re their fans, yes but we are more than fans. We certainly do all the things that fans do but it goes deeper than that because our guys are different than any other entertainer. The difference is the guys think of us as their extended family because they grew up with us. They spend more time with us than they do with their families. And they show us their love in everything they do. Think of how they treat us! When you meet them, they embrace you. Most entertainers just want your praise and accolades. Not our guys! They want to know about us! They ask about our lives and our families. They listen to us and do things to please us.
So, what is family? Family are the people who are there when you need them. When you’re sad you can always feel their love and their encouragement! Family is not just blood it’s the people who are there for us!
So, let’s take a look at how our Italian family spends their Christmas.
The Christmas season starts in Italy on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (December 8th) which is also a holiday in Italy. This is the day that many Italians put up their Christmas trees and the cities light up their streets with colored lights. Why? Because Mary is the mother of the Light, Jesus! But there are other traditions that are celebrated on this day!
Let’s go to Naro, Piero’s city, to see how they open the Christmas season.
Every year, on the 7th, 8th and 9th of December, every inhabitant in Naro stocks up on muffuletti. Muffuletti is a bread which is stuffed with meat and vegetables. Some people go to their local bakery to buy them, and some people prepare them at home. The tradition is linked to religion. Naro’s sandwiches are blessed and distributed in Churches at the end of the Mass on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception. The bakers donate the muffuletti to the Churches as a gesture of generosity towards their fellow countrymen but, above all, of love towards “a bedda matri ‘Mmaculata”, the Most Holy Immaculate, Mary.
During the month of December, the Christmas markets are held in Naro. The Fair is set up inside the cloister of the Town Hall. Many people go to the Franciscan cloister where, every evening, to the delight of the children, there is a special snowfall that whitens the baroque courtyard. On the final evening there is a concert of Sicilian folk music, and an award is given for the best photo taken at the large Christmas tree in Piazza Garibaldi.
During this magical period the streets are colored by many Christmas lights, and everyone visits the living nativity scene of Borgo Castello. There is Mass on Christmas Eve and between hugs, kisses and best wishes there are a thousand good intentions. And then, on Christmas day, the family gathers together for a dinner laden with many local delicacies.
And what would Piero do on Christmas day? Most likely, he will walk around Naro and visit some older people and his friends. He certainly would have decorated his home. He will most likely sing at the Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Mass. In the past, Piero has sung with his grandfather, Pietro. It is 2 years since Pietro has passed away and I’m sure Piero’s memories of singing with his grandfather has to be a bittersweet memory.
Christmas in Bologna! How does Ignazio celebrate Christmas?
Unlike Piero and Gianluca, Ignazio and his family live in a big city and like cities in America there are many events.
This year, Ignazio’s story has changed. As you know, Ignazio married the beautiful Michelle Bertolini and now his future begins. So how has his traditional Christmas changed? As far as I can see, not very much.
The Christmas tradition in Bologna has deep roots. The Bolognese Nativity Scene (Presepe) goes back to the Middle Ages. The tradition of the Presepe dates back to the 13th century and one of the oldest Presepe in the world is preserved in Bologna.
What makes the Bolognese Nativity different? It is life size and includes clothes that are different from the traditional Neapolitan style. They are dressed in a medieval style. In Porretta Terme in the Emilian Apennines another Presepe which is one of the oldest Presepe in the world is kept in the church of Capugnano.
I’m sure Ignazio & Michelle visited the Christmas Tree in Piazza Nettuno. It is a Bolognese tradition. The beautiful tree is a welcoming and bright place to meet friends and feel the warmth of Christmas.
Oddly Ignazio, the quiet, private one, is the one who posted his Christmas this year.
As you can see from the pictures Michelle posted, they had a typical Bologna Christmas.
We can see the typical appetizer. I’m sure on Christmas Eve there was some fish on the table. This is the tradition in every Italian house on “La Vigilia,” Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, there is another tradition. Lunch is the main meal and Pasta in brodo (pasta in broth) most certainly was served. In Bologna, it’s all about meat-filled tortellini in capon broth. These, small, Tortellini, are filled with a mixture of meat, mortadella and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese but you will find in Bologna every family has its secret ingredient for them. You’ll recall in an interview Ignazio mentioned his family buying Tortellini every Sunday.
The soup will most likely be followed by a roast and the meal will end with a traditional dessert like Certosino (or Pan speziale) which is made with almonds, pine nuts, dark chocolate and candied fruits. The recipe has its origin in the Middle Ages where Certosino was produced by pharmacists and later by Certosini Friars. Certosino is very popular in Bologna.
I know the part of the meal that Ignazio will like the best is the dessert! A dessert he will share with his family to celebrate Christmas Day!
But what about Michelle’s traditions?
I’m not sure what they are but from the pictures her family posted we can get an idea about a Venezuelan Christmas.
Happy First Christmas together! We will continue to follow up each year to see how the tradition changes or stays the same as the family grows.
There is one Sicilian tradition that I would like to talk about since we have two Sicilian men in the group, I think it is important to include it in the article.
For many in Sicily, the Christmas season starts on the Feast of Santa Lucia. In some regions of Sicily, the feast day is celebrated with Cuccia. The word itself is Sicilian. Cuccìa is typically made with wheat berries, ricotta and sugar. How did this tradition come to be?
In the winter of 1646, Sicily was undergoing a terrible famine. People were dying of hunger after a massive crop failure. The people of Palermo did the only thing they could in the circumstances: they prayed. And then on the morning of December 13th a ship full of grain arrived in Palermo harbor with enough grain to feed the whole city. Rather than wait to have the grain milled into flour to make bread, the hungry people boiled and ate the grain to satisfy their hunger and save their lives. The people were convinced that Santa Lucia (St. Lucy), Sicily’s most important saint had saved the city, since the grain arrived on her feast day.
I’m not sure if Piero and Ignazio’s family make Cuccia or eat it but I’m sure they know the tradition.
So, now let’s talk about Gianluca’s Christmas!
A Montepagano tradition is the Nativity scene. At the end of the last century a famous living Nativity play was started in Montepagano which is a real theatrical performance, with a director and a narrator.
In the Abruzzi region, there is a tradition that bagpipers, so called zampognari come into the towns and play their flutes and bagpipes for the people. They symbolize the shepherds who come in search of the newborn baby, Jesus. The bagpipers were once shepherds, today they are musicians who walk the streets of the cities, playing Christmas music. Often, they are in pairs, and one plays the zampognari (bagpipe) and the other the ciaramella (which is similar to a small piccolo).
For certain Gianluca will celebrate December 24th, Christmas Eve with a meal of fish including shellfish because he lives by the sea. As far as food traditions are concerned, on Christmas Day, the typical dish of the whole region of Abruzzo is spaghetti alla chitarra (which is prepared on a particular instrument called a guitar, because it is made of wood with metal strings) but most likely Gianluca will eat Lasagna. The second course will be arrosticini, which are pieces of meat, traditionally lamb, strung on long sticks, similar to a kebab. And for dessert, they will most likely have the traditional Christmas cake, Panettone.
Gianluca will surely spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with his family including his Grandpa Ernesto!
As many of you know my mother is Abruzzese and I must say, Gianluca’s Christmas is very similar to my Christmas.
If you’re wondering where Santa Claus is, in Italy he is known as “Babbo Natale,” Father Christmas, who brings presents to children on Christmas Eve but, in true Italian tradition, gifts were exchanged on January 6th the day of Epiphany when La Befana comes to Italian homes in search of the Christ Child and leaves gifts for the children. This is a tradition that is celebrated in the central regions of Italy.
La Befana is an old woman, with a hooked nose, badly dressed, with a handkerchief on her head, grumpy but good, she is not a witch. On January 6th, riding through the sky, flying on a broom, La Befana lands on the roofs, enters the houses from the chimneys and descends from the fireplace, leaving gifts and sweets in the big socks that the children place in front of the fireplace. If they were good, they get sweets. If they were bad, she leaves coal in the form of a sweet black candy. I’m sure there will be many sweets for Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca! No coal for our guys!
I would like to mention an important member of Il Volo’s family. Michele Torpedine! His family is originally from the region of Puglia. He moved to Bologna when he was twelve years old. So, he will celebrate Christmas with his family and the celebration would be similar to Ignazio’s!
Again, I would like to thank the two people who contributed to this Christmas story. Maura Pucci and Giovanni Granaro. Their knowledge of the regions of Montepagano and Naro and the different Christmas traditions made this story come to life!
Susan Daniela Pat
In closing, I would like to thank my team at Flight Crew! The two ladies who make all my stories come to life! Daniela Perani (a/k/a Sherlock Holmes) who provides many of the photos, videos and English translations for my stories and Patricia Ward who edits all of my stories.
I want to wish all of my Christian friends a Merry Christmas and all my Jewish friends a Happy Chanukah! And all my other friends, All the Happiness and Joy of the Season!
And finally, I’m sure you would love to join me in wishing Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with many Concerts and special surprises for us!
And may you all have a Happy, Healthy and Holy New Year! I send blessing from my house to yours!
I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas concerts.
Join me next time as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and open the door to a new adventure!
If you would like to share a story with me, please email: susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com
To read more Il Volo stories visit us at www.ilvoloflightcrw.com
Christmas has arrived and on the night before the CHRISTMAS CONCERT was broadcast on TV from the Valley and the Temples of Agrigento.
A wonderful concert, celestial voices elevated beautiful songs, the atmosphere (even though it was summer when it was recorded) was magical and enveloping. The temple in the background rose majestically and the beautiful, sparkling lights rose into the sky, with different colors depending on whether the song was strictly Christmas or not.
An excellent orchestra and an equally excellent choir formed the crown.
The interludes between one song and another were very beautiful and representative, it’s a shame not to be able to understand what was said, but in this, I’ll help you.
Here’s a wonderful Christmas concert!!
Try this Mediaset link which may not be visible in the US.
IGNAZIO= There is an ancient land, cradle of civilization and crossroads of cultures where the past meets the present…
PIERO= ….and where the ancient breath of the sea embraces history, it is SICILY….
GIANLUCA= ….in the heart of this land there is a timeless place, which this night under the starry sky is immersed in a unique atmosphere, that of CHRISTMAS.
IL VOLO, CHRISTMAS IN AGRIGENTO from an idea by Michele Torpedine and Barbara Vitali
(Gianluca, Ignazio and Piero advance from inside the Temple of Concordia to the stage, the concert begins)
O HOLY NIGHT
IGNAZIO= Good evening and Merry Christmas to everyone from the VALLEY OF THE TEMPLES of Agrigento.
PIERO= This place rich in history speaks to us of eternity, beauty and faith, and tonight it is dressed in a new, unprecedented light, that of Christmas.
I am personally proud because Agrigento will be the Italian Capital of Culture in 2025 and singing a few steps from home fills me, fills us with pride.
GIANLUCA= And in this union between past and present, between history and music, we will spend this evening together, as if we were truly family.
IGNAZIO= And after this whole introduction I would say that it’s time to get into the spirit of Christmas and therefore….maestro!!
CHRISTMAS MEDLEY
PIERO= Thank you.
GIANLUCA= Thank you.
IGNAZIO= Thank you very much everyone. Do you know, we often listen and sing Christmas songs without knowing the real story, because behind each one there is a great story and we, by choosing the songs from tonight’s Christmas repertoire, have gone to the bottom of all the stories…
PIERO= ….about how they were born…
IGNAZIO= About how they were born and so what better opportunity than to tell them this evening.
PIERO= So, can I start telling one?
IGNAZIO= Go!
PIERO= This next song that we all know was born in 1940.
IGNAZIO= I remember, good times!
PIERO= Imagine this author from New York moves to Los Angeles and there with the heat and nostalgia, he writes the next song which remains one of the most beautiful songs that have ever been written in the history of the Christmas repertoire, but there is a What….
IGNAZIO= But I know the story, you have to tell them (audience).
PIERO= Wait, maybe you didn’t know this. What happens? This piece is the only piece from the Christmas repertoire that wins an Oscar in the musical category.
GIANLUCA= But there is also a nice story at the end. On the evening of the awards ceremony, a unique episode occurred in the history of the Oscar awards, because the author of the song was also the host of the evening.
IGNAZIO= That is, he hosted the evening?
GIANLUCA= Yes, he was the host, and it was up to him to open the Oscar winner’s envelope and read his name. This was certainly an inconvenient circumstance, so much so that the following year, the Academy changed the rules of the competition to prevent the situation from happening again.
IGNAZIO= If I’m not mistaken that author was called: IRVING BERLIN (He jokes about the pronunciation of the name)
GIANLUCA= The pronunciation Ignazio, you have been traveling the world for 15 years….Irving Berlin
IGNAZIO= Okay, what Gianluca said. The song is White Christmas which in all these years has been translated into all the languages of the world and in Italy it has been translated into:
WHITE CHRISTMAS
IGNAZIO= Thank you, thank you very much everyone!
GIANLUCA= “What can be said with music is much more effective”, is what the author of the next song thought, a former Neapolitan lawyer who in the 18th century, disappointed by the corruption of justice, decided to dedicate himself to the most needy, becoming priest and then saint. His name was Alfonso de Liguori and he left us the most famous Christmas carol.
TU SCENDI DALLE STELLE (Piero)
PIERO= Thank you
GIANLUCA= We are at the foot of the Temple of Concordia and I like to imagine that almost 2500 years ago people gathered right here to pray to the goddess Concordia who symbolized harmony between people.
IGNAZIO= The next song, more than a song, is a hymn that underlines the importance of union.
PIERO= This song was written by John Lennon together with his wife Yoko Ono to send a message of peace against the war in Vietnam, a message that unfortunately is still relevant after 50 years.
HAPPY XMAS (War is Over)
PIERO= Thank you very much! This evening we are celebrating the magic of Christmas in this spectacular setting that Sicily offers us, which both you and I, Ignazio, know well.
IGNAZIO= Absolutely, even if to make me feel a little at home it would take a song in front of a fireplace, two or three chestnuts crackling on the fire, a little coarse salt put on……mmmm
PIERO= There was also an author there who wrote the song about the fireplace and the chestnuts.
IGNAZIO= Oh yes? Gianluca will make us hear it with the next song.
THE CHRISTMAS SONG
GIANLUCA= Thank you
(continues immediately without introduction)
IL MONDO
GIANLUCA= As we all know, this is the night of waiting.
IGNAZIO= The wait… for the panettone, at the end of dinner….😁
PIERO= You are very obvious…
GIANLUCA= Wait a minute, I was referring to that wait to unwrap the gifts, but did you ask for them? Have you asked for any gifts this year?
IGNAZIO= But what’s the point, the same gifts always arrive anyway. 😁
PIERO= Just curious, have you ever written the letter to Santa Claus?
GIANLUCA= Yes, some time ago, not now.
IGNAZIO= Yes, as a child and you?
PIERO= Never me.
IGNAZIO= But you must have written it, at school they make it written.
PIERO= Just once. I got home, there was an uncle dressed as Santa Claus and I couldn’t believe it, I went to my room to cry.
IGNAZIO= Maybe we wrote it (the letter) as children, but like Il Volo we never really wrote it.
PIERO= Do we want to do it for the first time? Let’s write a letter.
GIANLUCA= Let’s write a letter.
PIERO= Where are we tonight, in which city?
GIAN+IGNA= Agrigento.
PIERO= Where was I born?
GIAN+IGNA= In Agrigento.
PIERO= At the hospital here in Agrigento.
I’ve prepared something, look. Did you think that the other two members of Il Volo were also coming and I wasn’t preparing something? Look at what a beautiful desk I brought from home, I brought the desk, a paper and a pen. (meanwhile Piero, Gianluca and Ignazio have moved to the right of the stage under the Christmas tree where there is a desk)
IGNAZIO= But do you really want to write the letter to Santa Claus?
PIERO= Don’t worry, don’t worry.
GIANLUCA= Let’s do it the old-fashioned way: pen and paper!
PIERO= (He sat down to write) Dear….
IGNAZIO= Meanwhile, get up, you have writing that looks like a doctor’s, get up.
GIANLUCA= I’ll write that it’s better.
Dear Santa Claus…
PIERO= That is Santa Claus…
IGNAZIO= What a Santa Claus: Nicola, you write Dear Nicola….
GIANLUCA= Dear Nicola, then…
PIERO= We are writing to you from Agrigento…
GIANLUCA = Leave it to me.
DEAR NICOLA, In the meantime, thank you for this Christmas that you gave us and which cannot be taken for granted.
IGNAZIO= But what do we ask him? Because we have to ask for something.
PIERO= Let’s try to be alternative, ask for non-gifts.
IGNAZIO= What does it mean?
PIERO= For this year we are asking for non- gifts.
IGNAZIO= This year we ask you for non-gifts! (and Gianluca writes)
PIERO= For example, take away social media and mobile phones for a week, at least let’s go back to talking a little more, talking to each other looking at each other’s faces, in the eyes, and socializing more.
GIANLUCA= This actually seems like a good idea to me.
IGNAZIO= It’s true Gianluca, a nice gift.
GIANLUCA= I agree, but now I have one too. Dear Nicola, you who are at the North Pole have seen that it is no longer as cold as it used to be, there is less and less ice and in an instant you will have to replace your red velvet costume with a swimsuit. So, this year don’t give bulldozers and chainsaws to those who think trees shouldn’t be there. ❤️🌲
IGNAZIO= Well done!
PIERO= Good, I like this.
GIANLUCA= Maybe it’s a good start to fix things.
IGNAZIO= And you did yours too. Now since there’s time, write.
GIANLUCA= Bring me the paper because it’s windy.
PIERO= I’ll keep it.
IGNAZIO= Write: Dear Nicola, what do you say, if you have some time left over to remove all those toys to play the game of war, you know those toy soldiers, rubber guns and tanks, because we know that WAR IS NOT A GAME ❤️ (applause)
PIERO= To finish, because I liked this one (handshakes)… but bring one thing, especially to those children who didn’t have the opportunity this night, the chance to write you a letter, because you know, among the rubble it’s even difficult to find a pen and a sheet of paper, give them all the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, because if Christmas is an opportunity for adults to become children again, children need time and the future to become adults ! ❤️ (applause)
I+P+G= Signed: Il Volo!
GIANLUCA= Done.
PIERO= The letter is written.
IGNAZIO= The letter is written, we still have to wait for us to deliver the letter in person because in any case:
SANTA CLOUS IS COMING TOWN
(immediately after that it starts:)
ROCKIN AROUND CHRISTMAS TREE
I+G+P= Thank you, Thank you very much. See you soon. (commercial break)
GRANDE AMORE
PIERO= Thank you, thank you very much. Let’s continue with the story of the most beautiful Christmas songs. The next one, just think, has only 19 words, 13 in English and 6 in Spanish, because for the author Christmas unites everyone and speaks only one language, the universal one.
GIANLUCA= Just think that the author we all know comes from Puerto Rico, was the fourth of eleven children and in 1970 he was recording an album of Christmas covers but at the last minute, the producer asked him to include an original piece in the album Christmas, so he wrote it in ten minutes but without importance.
IGNAZIO= That song that he wrote in ten minutes, he didn’t hope so much, but in the end it not only became the most famous song on the album, but the most famous song of his career.
It’s the best known Christmas song in the world, I’m talking about Josè Feliciano and the song you understood is:
FELIZ NAVIDAD
PIERO= Now is an important and exciting moment because Ignazio is your turn.
IGNAZIO= Is it my turn? (he is sitting on the piano).
PIERO= You will sing one of the songs that made the history of Italian music.
Ladies and gentlemen, from the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. Ignazio.
ALMENO TU NELL’UNIVERSO
IGNAZIO= Thank you, thank you all.
PIERO= Tonight there is an element that everyone has in common, from us who are on stage, to you who stay at home, it is the great protagonist of every Christmas, we all have this element at home.
As you have understood, we are talking about the Christmas tree, this evening we wanted to exaggerate.
IGNAZIO= I think the Christmas tree is also the symbol of union, because at home we make the tree together with the family.
PIERO= All together, of course.
IGNAZIO= There are those who put the ball….it’s a way for us all to be together and then, when the period ends we all take it down together…..that is, they take it down!!
PIERO= Have you never taken down the Christmas tree?
IGNAZIO= Never! I’m there to decorate it, to dismantle it… a little less.
GIANLUCA= Think that there is an author who wrote a song about the Christmas tree, he talks about him in the next song, so:
O TANNENBAUM
IGNAZIO= Now it’s time to listen to a song taken from one of the most famous American musicals in my opinion: The Phantom of the Opera, this next song is titled: La Musica della Notte, Gianluca!
THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT
PIERO= Imagine for a moment that these temples could talk, what would they tell us? Maybe they would tell us about nights similar to this one, in which men and women gathered under the stars seeking comfort, maybe they would tell us about hopes, dreams, or prayers raised to heaven.
HALLELUJAH
GIANLUCA= We want to remember and dedicate this moment to our Barbara because it is as if she were here with all of us, truly and we wanted to say it with all our hearts, with emotion. ❤️🙏 Thank you!
See you soon (commercial break)
AVE MARIA
GIANLUCA= Thank you, thank you.
PIERO= I would like to dedicate a big round of applause to this magnificent orchestra conducted by maestro Edmondo Savio.
GIANLUCA= The next song is a tribute to beauty and I would say that tonight we are truly surrounded by it, these ancient columns are the result of a search for beauty that has been able to overcome time and space and become a true masterpiece:
CAPOLAVORO
GIANLUCA= Thank you.
PIERO= Thank you very much. Christmas, as you know, is the holiday that brings us back to memories, mine doesn’t go back that long ago, it dates back to 2019.
IGNAZIO= So?
PIERO= In 2019 we had a concert in Croatia. The concert was on December 22nd, on the morning of the 23rd we were all at the airport to return, I had to return to Catania and I had to return for the Christmas party.
Due to bad weather they canceled all direct flights to Catania, I was desperate, the only solution, and you should remind this (to Ignazio)….
IGNAZIO= Who am I?
PIERO=…. yes because you were close to me. The only solution to get home was to land in Paris, stay in Paris for two days and then arrive home on the evening of the 25th. I, along with other families who were there at check in, were desperate, we didn’t want to go to Paris, but to return home for Christmas…
GIANLUCA= Okay, it wasn’t bad, but for us who travel around the world, going home is better.
PIERO= Bravo! So we were desperate.
What happens? At a certain point a woman comes near us and says: “Last night I was at your concert, you were wonderful.”
I turn around and she was wearing her airline uniform.
IGNAZIO= She’s called a hostess anyway. 😁
PIERO= Before saying thank you I say: “Hold up for a moment, lady, who are you, why are you dressed in the airline uniform?”….
IGNAZIO= Because it’s carnival!! 😂(laughter)
PIERO= …. “You have to help me”…..but how can I talk to you (Ignazio) who whispers to me?
GIANLUCA= You make him finish! 😁
IGNAZIO= I understand, but how can a woman dressed as a stewardess, excuse me???
PIERO= I thought I had to make this commitment for myself and for the four families who were there, so I tell you: “Ma’am, thank you for enjoying the concert, but you have to take us back to Sicily.”
And she somehow managed to put me and the four families on a flight to Palermo and on the evening of the 24th I was at home for dinner! (applause)
And this was the best gift I’ve ever received! (applause)
IGNAZIO= What is the limit for Piero Barone? Missing the flight (il volo) at Christmas!! 😁😁
GIANLUCA= Shivering with cold!
Can I tell you one too? Mine is nice too.
I remember that for many years, on the morning of the 25th I found the window open, the biscuits crumbled on the ground that Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) had eaten and brought to the tree and once I also found his red hat which had remained near the open window…
IGNAZIO= But whose?
GIANLUCA= Babbo Natale’s!
PIERO= Nicola’s!
GIANLUCA= Just think that one day I was desperate, I came back from school because my classmates told me that Babbo Natale didn’t exist. So I went home crying and went to my mother and she told me that it couldn’t be like that, since he had left all that evidence of his presence in our house.
IGNAZIO= Yes, all those tracks.
GIANLUCA= So today two things come to mind: or that Babbo Natale would be a terrible criminal, or that my parents were Oscar-winning set designers for years, because they were good at keeping a child’s dream alive, like all parents do. (applause)
IGNAZIO= Or that in life you were right to be a singer because if you were a detective you were denied! 😁
PIERO= And you, dear Ignazio, what is your memory of Christmas?
IGNAZIO= I don’t have many memories, yes, like everyone else, Christmas has always been one of the most beautiful moments of the year in recent years because for us who didn’t spend much time with our families, we came back in the last days of December to have Christmas and New Year’s Eve with them.
Don’t you know that I, I, you see me? I am a living Christmas present.
GIANLUCA= Oh yes?
PIERO= But something normal in your life???….😁
GIANLUCA= Wait, let him finish, don’t always interrupt!
IGNAZIO= I am the living Christmas present because my sister wrote a letter to Babbo Natale on Christmas 1993, like the one we wrote before, and she wrote: “Dear Santa Claus, take material gifts to the poorest children, but I ask you for a little brother”……and I was born….in ‘94! 🥰
The stork brought me, this stork was immense!! If I can, I want to dedicate this next song to my sister, because it was she who encouraged the stork to pass through Bologna, so this one is for her.
PIERO= Ladies and gentlemen, let’s leave the stage to Ignazio.
I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
GIANLUCA= Guys, are you enjoying this evening? And you who are in the audience, how is it going? (applause)
IGNAZIO= Make yourself heard by the Canale 5 audience, up, up. (applause)
IGNAZIO= Tonight as per tradition, we don’t go to bed before midnight.
PIERO= And we’ll take care of keeping you awake by dedicating the next aria to you.
NESSUN DORMA
I+G+P= Thank you very much everyone.
(commercial break)
AMAZING GRACE
PIERO= Ladies and gentlemen: Pretty Yende.
YENDE= Thank you very much.
PIERO= Opera star. (applause)
GIANLUCA= Thank you for being here with us, it’s truly a great honor.
YENDE= It’s a pleasure for me, thank you very much.
PIERO= Let’s sing another song.
YENDE= Yes.
IGNAZIO= The next one is a piece taken from an opera, one of the most famous, LA TRAVIATA by Giuseppe Verdi, which tells of a moment of celebration.
GIANLUCA= It’s a hymn to happiness, to love, and on those occasions like this, which remind us how beautiful it is to be together and toast.
IGNAZIO= What better occasion than Christmas Eve to make a toast?
PIERO= So at home, let’s raise our glasses and toast together.
LIBIAMO DE LIETI CALICI
PIERO= If in this Valley of the Temples the stones and columns tell millenary stories, this evening we are telling the stories of Christmas songs and there is one in particular that deserves to be told.
GIANLUCA= 110 years have passed since the night of Christmas Eve 1914, a night like this.
The First World War began five months ago, enough time to already cause a million deaths.
The German soldiers, on one side of the front, sing this very song, on the other side the English listen and are moved and decide to exchange not bullets, but smiles for this time. From the backpacks of the English suddenly a ball comes out, a leather ball, the doors made with coats, the enemies discover they are simply human beings.
IGNAZIO= (he reads a letter written from the front after that evening).
My dearest mother, I am writing this to you from the battlefield, it is so incredible that I am writing from here, but it is so. I think there was something very magical about Christmas Day. At many points along the line, the Germans began lighting candles and singing, then shouted: “A merry Christmas to you Englishmen”, and we responded by wishing them the same.
It’s incredible, but we didn’t shoot for a while. This morning some of them began to advance towards our lines with their hands raised, and we went out to meet them.
We exchanged cigarettes and chocolate and showed them photos of our families. We also buried our dead who lay between the trenches together. We shook hands, talked to each other, shared stories and laughs. At this moment it almost seems that the war is over, but of course we know that this is not the case. I can’t help but wonder how this is all possible.
For today at least, there has been peace on earth and good will among men, let’s hope that this spirit can last.
With all my love: Dogan ❤️🙏😭
ASTRO DEL CIEL
ADESTE FIDELES
GIANLUCA= This starry sky that envelops the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento is the perfect backdrop for the next song, so we leave the stage to Piero.
E LUCEVAN LE STELLE
PIERO= Thanks everyone.
GLORIA IN EXCELIS DEO (beautiful Gregorian chant)
GIANLUCA= Thank you
(commercial break)
SE
IGNAZIO= Thank you.
PIERO= The next song takes the three of us back in time, to when we were children and didn’t even know each other.
GIANLUCA= Before becoming IL VOLO, each of us sang where we could, especially in church, which was the best stage to test ourselves.
IGNAZIO= Yes, also because singing in church also meant earning some money and this next song was one of the most requested, I’m talking about:
PANIS ANGELICUS
CARUSO
GIANLUCA= Stay with us, it doesn’t end here, see you soon. (commercial break)
PIERO= We have reached the end of this wonderful evening, we are very happy, in this magical place, the Valley of the Temples is a theater under the stars.
GIANLUCA= Thanks also to maestro Edmondo Savio, thanks to the orchestra, thanks to the musical director Giampiero Grani, to all the musicians and the choir, but above all thanks to you. (applause)
IGNAZIO= Grazie mille. For us it is very exciting to spend Christmas with you, with you who have supported us every year since our inception, but above all we are proud because on this evening we wanted to give you emotions but in particular to send you messages.
GIANLUCA= May you carry in your heart every day a little of the magic that the Valley of the Temples gave us this night. Merry Christmas everyone and goodnight!
PIERO= Thanks everyone!
AVE MARIA MATER MISERICORDIAE
What an incredible concert!!!
It was broadcast on Christmas Eve and had maximum ratings, as you can see from the list of TV shows that evening.
Furthermore, the concert was repeated in the early afternoon of Christmas Day, still obtaining the maximum audience in the afternoon. A great ratings success.
A few days earlier, Maestro Grani had published this post with great pride:
“I had the pleasure and privilege of taking care of the musical direction of this wonderful event!
In Italy we have places of absolute beauty. This is a concert that will leave its mark.
Thanks to @ilvolomusic.”
It was truly a magical Christmas Eve, as only Il Volo can do.
Daniela 🤗🎄✨
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.
Come in and share the love of life, friends and Il Volo!
