15 Facts About Franco Battiato

Franco Battiato was for decades one of the most popular singer-songwriters in Italy.

Together with Alice, Franco Battiato represented Italy at the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "I treni di Tozeur".

Franco Battiato was born in Ionia, the former name of the town of Giarre-Riposto, in Sicily, southern Italy After graduating from high school at the Liceo Scientifico "Archimede" in Acireale, and following the death of his father, in 1964 he moved first to Rome, and then to Milan at age 19, and soon after won his first musical contract.

Franco Battiato scored some success with the romantic song "E l'amore".

Franco Battiato abandoned the progressive rock experiments of the previous years and moved to a more pop-oriented style which afforded him ever increasing popularity with both Italian and worldwide audiences.

In 1994 Franco Battiato began to collaborate with the Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, who was to write almost all the lyrics of his following albums.

Gommalacca, Ferro battuto and Dieci stratagemmi continued on the same path, with variations mainly set by Franco Battiato's unceasing desire for musical experimentation.

In 2003 Franco Battiato released his first feature film, Lost Love, for which he composed the soundtrack.

Franco Battiato's following movie was, Musikanten, an experimental work about Beethoven's last four years of life.

In November 2012, Franco Battiato accepted an offer from newly elected Sicilian regional president Rosario Crocetta to become the regional Minister for Tourism and Culture, announcing he would not receive any salary for his position, but subsequently had to resign after a controversial statement in which he defined Sicily's corrupt political elite as "prostitutes".

Franco Battiato went on releasing his music, always on a thin border between pop, rock and electronics, until 2010.

Franco Battiato toured with Alice for the whole of 2016, but in 2017 he held his last concert in Catania.

Franco Battiato would have continued his work, but he had to give up for health reasons.

Franco Battiato was vegetarian and was a follower of the ideas of ecumenism and polytheism.

Franco Battiato died on 18 May 2021, at his home in Milo, Catania, surrounded by rumours about a neurodegenerative disease, osteoporosis or cancer.