16 Facts About Antonello Venditti

Antonio "Antonello" Venditti was born on 8 March 1949 and is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who became popular in the 1970s for the social themes addressed in his songs.

Antonello Venditti was born in Rome, the son of Vincenzino Italo Venditti from Campolieto, in Molise, who at the time was deputy-prefect in Rome, and Wanda Sicardi.

Antonello Venditti studied piano in his youth and made his debut in the music world in the early 1970s at the Folkstudio in Rome, together with singers like Francesco De Gregori, Mimmo Locasciulli, Grazia Di Michele and Giorgio Lo Cascio.

De Gregori and Venditti formed a duo and together they released their first album, Theorius Campus, in 1972.

Curiously, Antonello Venditti refused to sing it for several years, as he considered it not politically or socially "engaged" enough.

Antonello Venditti moved to Milan in 1973 and released his first solo album L'orso bruno, made in collaboration with musician Vince Tempera; this album included another song in dialect, "E li ponti so' soli", but otherwise was marked by an even stronger attention to social themes.

Antonello Venditti's fortunes grew and peaked in 1975, with the LP Lilly.

The eponymous track scored a great success, but was largely misinterpreted as a love song: it actually referred to Antonello Venditti's career, as he was in fact born "under the Pisces sign".

Roma, his city's football team, won its long-awaited second scudetto: Antonello Venditti was therefore called upon to take part in the official celebration show, and the song that he composed for the occasion, "Grazie Roma", turned into a great success, surprisingly not just in Rome.

Antonello Venditti had already composed several songs about his favourite football team; some people criticized them harshly, mostly because of the strong contrast with the political-social themes of his other songs.

Antonello Venditti's LPs were very successful, but his former themes were absent, or generally less stressed.

Roma again won a scudetto, and Antonello Venditti played again in a free concert in the Circo Massimo for an immense audience of tifosi and lovers of his songs.

In November 2011, Antonello Venditti released his new album, named Unica.

In 2022 Antonello Venditti re-united with Francesco De Gregori for a national tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their friendship and artistic association.

The rewritten song by Antonello Venditti was inspired on Say Something by Christina Aguilera.

Antonello Venditti released the soundtrack for the 1985 movie Troppo Forte by his friend, the Roman director Carlo Verdone.