Favourite Italian Composers
No ranking, just sorted First Name / Family Name.
Except Nicola Piovani, who is an underrated author of film music.
Personal favourites are Carlo Savina, Piero Piccioni and Stelvio Cipriani.
Ennio Morricone is kinda Godfather of film music in general but he's not comparable to anybody else and plays in a league of his own.
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
Except Nicola Piovani, who is an underrated author of film music.
Personal favourites are Carlo Savina, Piero Piccioni and Stelvio Cipriani.
Ennio Morricone is kinda Godfather of film music in general but he's not comparable to anybody else and plays in a league of his own.
Thanks for checking, enjoy.
List activity
3.9K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
100 people
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Nicola Piovani was born on 26 May 1946 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and The Son's Room (2001).- Music Artist
- Actor
- Writer
Adriano Celentano is one of the most important singers of Italian pop music, but he's also been a creator of a comic genre in movies, with his characteristic way of walking and his facial expressions. For the most part, his films were commercially successful, in fact in the 70s and part of the 80s, he was king of the Italian box office in low budget movies. Probably, as an actor, his best film is Serafino (1968), directed by Pietro Germi. As a director he frequently casts Ornella Muti, Eleonora Giorgi and his wife Claudia Mori. He and Claudia have three children: Rosalinda Celentano Rosita Celentano and Giacomo Celentano. He also works often as a host for several Italian TV shows.- Alberto Baldan Bembo was born on 15 May 1948 in Milan, Italy. He is a composer, known for The Tehran Incident (1979).
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Alberto Verrecchia is known for Season for Assassins (1975), The Hallucinating Trip (1975) and Ecco noi per esempio... (1977).- Composer
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Aldo Piga was born on 16 October 1928 in New York, USA. He was a composer and producer, known for Zorikan the Barbarian (1964), The Saracens (1963) and A... For Assassin (1966). He died in 1994 in New York City, New York, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Alessandro Alessandroni was born in Rome. He came to fame for playing the guitar and "the whistle" theme on Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on music composed by Ennio Morricone. Alessandroni started playing at age 11. When still a teenager, he formed a band playing in several venues in Italy and he was already fond of guitar, piano, sax, flute and other instruments. After graduating from the Conservatory in Rome, he was discovered by Nino Rota who wanted him in his orchestra. Already known within Cinecittà for his whistling ability, he was called by Morricone to work on "A Fistfull of Dollars". Their collaboration continued on For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and _Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)_. Always in 1968, Alessandroni was called by composer Piero Umiliani to perform on _Sweden: Heaven and Hell (1968)_. For the movie, Alessandroni, together with his wife Giulia, provided the vocals for the song "Mah Nà Mah Nà" that became instantly both a hit and a catchphrase and it has since been often used in several sketches worldwide like in The Red Skelton Hour (1951), Sesame Street (1969), The Muppet Show (1976), The Benny Hill Show (1969).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Alessandro Brugnolini is known for From Istanbul, Orders to Kill (1965), Fantabulous Inc. (1968) and The Archangels (1963).- Composer
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Amedeo Tommasi was born on 1 December 1935 in Trieste, Italy. He was a composer, known for The Legend of 1900 (1998), The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Sleepless (2001). He died on 13 April 2021 in Rome, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
He graduated in violin and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan (Italy), Lavagnino deserves a special place in film music for his contribution to documentaries. He gave reportages a new dimension; he did not elaborate folkloristic themes, neither he passively adapts the instruments of a certain musical civilization: he identifies the elements that characterize a country under the "sound profile" and gives a plausible equivalent. For this aim, Lavagnino uses all the possibilities given by modern technology, his goal is to "build" a sound. The main collaborator of a musician is no more the orchestra director, but the sound engineer. This attitude did not prevent Lavagnino from producing great orchestra music. In the classical field, he wrote a Concert for violin and orchestra and a Mass for chorus and orchestra. He began composing for cinema in 1951, for film director Orson Welles' Othello. Since then, he wrote music for hundreds of films, among which: Nero's Weekend (Nero's Mistress (1956)) with Gloria Swanson and Brigitte Bardot, The Naked Maja (1958) with Ava Gardner, Imperial Venus (Imperial Venus (1962)) with Gina Lollobrigida, Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight (1965)) directed by and starring Orson Welles, and many others.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Armando Sciascia was born on 16 June 1920 in Lanciano, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for L'uomo che bruciò il suo cadavere (1964), Per un dollaro a Tucson si muore (1965) and Adolescenti al sole (1964). He died on 23 June 2017 in Connecticut, USA.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Armando Trovajoli was born on 2 September 1917 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), A Special Day (1977) and Get Smart (2008). He was married to Maria Paola Trovajoli and Pier Angeli. He died on 1 March 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Augusto Martelli was born on 15 March 1940 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Nella misura in cui... (1979), The Spider's Stratagem (1970) and Per amore o per forza (1971). He died on 3 November 2014 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Benedetto Ghiglia was born on 27 December 1921 in Fiesole, Tuscany, Italy. He was a composer, known for Espionage in Tangiers (1965), Secret Agent Super Dragon (1966) and I tulipani di Haarlem (1970). He died on 4 July 2012 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Berto Pisano was born on 13 October 1928 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971), Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) and The Big Blackout (1966). He died on 29 January 2002 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Bruno Canfora was born on 6 November 1924 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Nine Queens (2000), Nine (2009) and No Way Out (1973). He was married to Loretta Turi and Elsa Peirone. He died on 4 August 2017 in Piegaro, Umbria, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Special Effects
Bruno Nicolai was born on 26 May 1926 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Django (1966) and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). He died on 16 August 1991 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bruno Zambrini was born on 5 April 1935 in Francavilla al Mare, Abruzzo, Italy. He is a composer, known for The American (2010), Notte prima degli esami (2006) and Ex (2009).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
An all-round composer of songs, film scores and television shows, Carlo Innocenzi was born in Monteleone di Spoleto in 1899. He married his lyricist Marcella Rivi (who wrote the words for many of his hit songs including "Il Primo Amore", "Prigoniero di un Sogno", "Addio Sogni di Gloria", "Bocca Desiderata" and "Tu M'Incatenerai".) Innocenzi's work for the cinema began in 1938 and covered a huge number of features, documentaries and several re-scores of Hollywood movies for Italian release. From 1958 he began an exhausting period scoring the "peplum" series, and was still doing ten Hercules epics a year at 62, when his untimely death occurred in 1962. Such was the quality of his symphonic music that several of his cues continued to be used in a number of subsequent Italian epics. In his honour the local musicians in his home town of Monteleone di Spoleto have formed the ensemble Corpo Bandistico "Carlo Innocenzi." As an additional commemoration the location of their headquarters is now called the Piazza Carlo Innocenzi.- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Carlo Rustichelli was born on 24 December 1916 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Man of Straw (1958), L'armata Brancaleone (1966) and The Facts of Murder (1959). He was married to Elvira Zecchino. He died on 13 November 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Carlo Savina was born on 2 August 1919 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for The Brothers Bloom (2008), Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Tenant (1976). He died on 23 June 2002 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Carlos Pes was born on 3 March 1927 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for About Time (2013), 21 (2008) and Ocean's Twelve (2004). He died on 24 December 1999 in Bellagio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Cesare A. Bixio was born on 11 October 1896 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) and Rounders (1998). He died on 5 March 1978 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Claudio Gizzi (Rome, 16 of may of 1946) is a Italian musician and film composer famous for the score of Andy Warlhol's Frankestein (aka Flesh for Frankestein) and Andy Warlhol's Dracula (aka Blood for Dracula), both movies directed by Paul Morrissey. Also, Gizzi is long run musician, who collaborated experimenting with electronic sounds in Automat and released albums with the pseudonym of Olmi or Jean-Pierre Posit and others with his own name.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Coriolano Gori was born on 7 March 1927 in Cervia, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kindar the Invulnerable (1965), Massacre Time (1966) and Karzan, il favoloso uomo della jungla (1972). He died on 1 December 1982 in Terracina, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Daniele Paris is known for The Night Porter (1974), Milarepa (1974) and Beyond Good and Evil (1977).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Daniele Patucchi was born in 1945 in Turin, Italy. He was a composer, known for Warrior of the Lost World (1983), Il sorriso del ragno (1971) and Jugando con la muerte (1982). He died on 27 July 2015 in Rome, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dario Marianelli was born in Pisa and studied piano and composition in Florence and London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he spent 3 years at the National Film and Television School, from which he graduated in 1997. Dario's film scores include 'Paddington 2' (2017), 'Darkest Hour' (2017), 'Kubo and the 'Two Strings' (2016) Everest (2015), 'The Boxtrolls' (2014), 'Anna Karenina' (2012), 'Jane Eyre' (2011), 'Salmon Fishing In The Yemen' (2011), 'Eat Pray Love' (2010), 'The Soloist' (2009), 'Agora' (2009), 'Atonement' (2007), 'V for Vendetta' (2006) and 'Pride and Prejudice' (2005). He has written orchestral music for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and the Britten-Pears Orchestra, as well as vocal music for the BBC Singers, incidental music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and several ballet scores. Dario won the Oscar, Golden Globe and Ivor Novello Award in the Best Original Score category for the award-winning Working Title film 'Atonement', for which he also won the World Soundtrack Award and was BAFTA nominated. He was also nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack Of The Year category for 'Atonement'. In 2006, Dario was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Score category for his music to Joe Wright's 'Pride & Prejudice'. This score won him the Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack/ Musical Theatre Composer of The Year category and also earned him an Ivor Novello Award nomination. Dario's collaboration with Joe Wright on the film 'Anna Karenina' led to his nomination for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Original Score, and in May 2013, he won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score for 'Anna Karenina'. In 2014 Dario composed the score for Laika animation 'The Boxtrolls', which was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. He has recently completed work on the score to his second Laika animation, 'Kubo and the Two Strings', for which he won an Ivor Novello Award, and also worked on his fifth film collaboration with director Asif Kapadia on live action feature 'Ali and Nino'.
During 2014 Dario's 'Voyager' Violin Concerto also had its world premiere in Brisbane, Australia, performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as part of a spectacular event combining science, music, voice, and film titled 'Journey Through The Cosmos'. The piece was featured alongside a lecture given by Professor Brian Cox and has since gone on to be performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding and featuring highly acclaimed violinist Jack Liebeck.
In 2017, Dario continued his working relationship with Joe Wright on 'Darkest Hour' and also scoring Paul King's 'Paddington 2'. Dario was commissioned by The Royal Opera House to compose their new ballet, 'The Unknown Soldier', which premiered in November 2018. He also worked with Travis Knight, composing the score for the latest film in the Transformers film series, 'Bumblebee.' Dario collaborated with Matteo Garrone to score the Italian feature film 'Pinocchio'. Most recently Dario composed the original score for 'A Boy Called Christmas', directed by Gil Kenan, which was released in late 2021.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Detto Mariano was born on 27 July 1937 in Monte Urano, Marche, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Il burbero (1986), Avanti! (1972) and The Tough and the Mighty (1969). He died on 25 March 2020 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionized the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies - making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).- Sound Department
Enrico Pellegrini is known for 2047: Sights of Death (2014), On My Skin: The Last Seven Days of Stefano Cucchi (2018) and Medici (2016).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Enrico Pieranunzi is known for Cinema Paradiso (1988), Pieces (1982) and Young, Violent, Dangerous (1976).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Enrico Simonetti was born on 29 January 1924 in Alassio, Liguria, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Step Up (2006), Macumba Love (1960) and Il circolo Pickwick (1968). He died on 28 May 1978 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Fabio Frizzi was born on 2 July 1951 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Zombie (1979) and Saint Frankenstein (2015).- Sound Department
- Actress
- Composer
Fiamma Maglione was an actress and composer, known for Cannibal Ferox (1981), Concorde Affaire '79 (1979) and The Tough Ones (1976). She was married to Mino Loy. She died in January 2003.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Fiorenzo Carpi was born on 19 October 1918 in Milan, Italy. He was a composer, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Notte italiana (1987) and Il prete bello (1989). He died on 21 May 1997 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Rome, he studied composition at the Neapolitan Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" under the direction of M° Achille Longo then proceeded to study orchestra direction at the Chigiana Academy in Siena with Paul Van Kempen and Franco Ferrara. He also graduated in horn, after having studied with Domenico Ceccarossi. He then took part in the "A. Scarlatti" Orchestra of Naples and in the Rome Symphonic Orchestra of RAI TV. In 1968 he won the "Review" award of young conductors sponsored by RAI, and since then he has been very active in conducting concerts and operas in Italy and abroad. In 1974 he held the chair of orchestra rehearsals at the Conservatory "S. Pietro a Majella" in Naples where, since 1983, he has been teaching orchestra direction. He has been teaching at the "S. Cecilia" Conservatory of Rome since 1989.
He has recorded many discs with music by Boccherini, Mozart, Ciaikovsky, Honegger, Chausson, Beethoven, C. Nielsen, V. Caracciolo. He is the director of the "Roma Symphonia" orchestra. In the field of film soundtracks he began his activity in the 1950s composing music for a few documentaries and feature films. In 1955 he attended a course in film music taught by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino at the Chigiana Academy in Siena, and later became his assistant, collaborating with him on several major films. In 1957 he started his collaboration with Folco Quilici, first on some documentaries, then on the following films: "Dagli Appennini alle Ande" followed by "Ti-koyo e il suo Pescecane" and on several TV series such as "Firenze 1000 Giorni", "L'Uomo Europeo", "Festa Barocca", "Grandepoque", "Archivi del Tempo", "Le Avventure del Capitano Cook", etc. He has composed scores to hundreds of cinematographic and TV documentaries and to more than 200 films, especially historical films and westerns, in Italy, Spain, Germany and the U.S..- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Franco Campanino is known for Iguana (1988), Killer contro killers (1985) and The Sword of the Barbarians (1982).- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Franco De Gemini was born on 10 September 1928 in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a composer, known for Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and Cinema Insomnia with Mr. Lobo (2001). He died on 20 July 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Franco Mannino was born on 25 April 1924 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a composer, known for The Innocent (1976), Conversation Piece (1974) and Beat the Devil (1953). He was married to Uberta Visconti di Modrone. He died on 1 February 2005 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Franco Micalizzi was born on 21 December 1939 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer, known for Death Proof (2007), Grindhouse (2007) and Django Unchained (2012).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Franco Potenza was born on 23 January 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Afrika (1973), Anche l'inferno trema (1958) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965). He died on 6 September 2011 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Fred Bongusto was born on 6 April 1935 in Campobasso, Molise, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for The Cricket (1980), Oh, Serafina! (1976) and Malicious (1973). He was married to Gabriella Palazzoli. He died on 8 November 2019 in Rome, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Gianfranco Plenizio was born on 10 January 1941 in Sedegliano, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He was a composer, known for 21 (2008), Joy (2015) and Hotel Rwanda (2004). He died on 7 February 2017 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gianfranco Reverberi was born on 12 December 1934 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a composer, known for Kick-Ass (2010), Boyhood (2014) and The Big Short (2015). He died on 8 January 2024 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Writer
Gian Piero Reverberi was born on 29 July 1939 in Genoa, Italy. He is a composer and writer, known for Kick-Ass (2010), Boyhood (2014) and Horrible Bosses (2011). He has been married to Laura Giordano since 1963.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Giacomo Dell'Orso was born on 2 December 1931 in Ofena, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy. He is a composer, known for Zombie Holocaust (1980). He is married to Edda Dell'Orso.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gianni Ferrio was born on 16 November 1924 in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. He was a composer, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Look Who's Back (2015) and The Adventurers (1970). He was married to Alba Arnova. He died on 21 October 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gianni Marchetti was born on 7 September 1933 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for King of Africa (1968), The Killer Likes Candy (1968) and Colpo di stato (1969). He died on 10 April 2012 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Gino Marinuzzi Jr. was born on 7 April 1920 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer, known for Planet of the Vampires (1965), Matchless (1967) and Kommissar X - Drei gelbe Katzen (1966). He died on 8 November 1996 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Gino Peguri is known for Nostalghia (1983), Blackie the Pirate (1971) and Mister Zehn Prozent - Miezen und Moneten (1968).- Gioacchino Angelo is known for Il vendicatore mascherato (1963), La vispa Teresa (1943) and Agguato sul mare (1955).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Giorgio Gaslini was born on 22 October 1929 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a composer, known for Deep Red (1975), La Notte (1961) and Love (2015). He was married to Simona Caucia. He died on 29 July 2014 in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Giorgio Moroder was born on 26 April 1940 in Urtijëi, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Top Gun (1986), Flashdance (1983) and Over the Top (1987).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actress
Giovanna Marini was born on 19 January 1937 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She was a composer and actress, known for Storia d'amore (1986), Il sospetto (1975) and Cronache del terzo millennio (1996). She was married to Pino Marini. She died on 8 May 2024 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Director
Giovanni Fusco was born on 10 October 1906 in Sant'Agata de' Goti, Campania, Italy. He was a composer and director, known for L'Avventura (1960), Story of a Love Affair (1950) and Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959). He died on 31 May 1968 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Soundtrack
Giovanni Venosta was born on 8 October 1961 in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. He is a composer, known for Bread and Tulips (2000), Un'anima divisa in due (1993) and Brucio nel vento (2002).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Giuliano Sorgini is known for The Laws of the Border (2021), Running with Scissors (2006) and The Craft: Legacy (2020).- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Pippo Caruso was born on 22 December 1935 in Belpasso, Sicily, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Escape from Women's Prison (1978), Il maestro di violino (1976) and I due toreri (1964). He died on 28 May 2018 in Passo Corese, Rieti, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Producer
- Writer
Guido De Angelis was born on 22 December 1944 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Luciano Michelini was born in 1945 in Italy. He is a composer, known for The Island of the Fishmen (1979), The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975) and The Cheaters (1975).- Luciano Simoncini is known for Colpo grosso... grossissimo... anzi probabile (1972).
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Ludovico Einaudi was born on 23 November 1955 in Turin, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Nomadland (2020), The Father (2020) and This Is England (2006).- Composer
- Soundtrack
Marcello Gigante is known for Un alibi per morire (1962), Wanted Johnny Texas (1967) and The Electric Chair (1969).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Marcello Giombini was born on 24 July 1928 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for Our Man in Jamaica (1965) and Mission Stardust (1967). He died on 12 December 2003 in Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Mario Bertolazzi was born on 10 October 1918 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a composer, known for Il baco da seta (1974), Non son degno di te (1965) and Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? (1972).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Mario Molino is known for The Angels from 2000 (1969), Las alegres chicas de 'El Molino' (1977) and Like Rabid Dogs (1976).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Mario Nascimbene was born on 28 November 1913 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for The French Dispatch (2021), Matchstick Men (2003) and Violent Summer (1959). He was married to Mara Caterina Ripari and Tamara Adrian. He died on 6 January 2002 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Producer
- Music Department
Maurizio De Angelis was born on 22 February 1947 in Rocca di Papa, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and producer, known for Yor: The Hunter from the Future (1983), Death Proof (2007) and All the Way Boys (1972).- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Nando De Luca is known for The Mean Machine (1973), Gli assassini sono nostri ospiti (1974) and Metti... che ti rompo il muso (1973).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Prolific singer, songwriter and composer Nico Fidenco was born in Rome as Domenico Colarossi on January 24, 1933. Signed to RCA in Rome in 1960, he had his first major hit as a singer with Legata ad un granello di sabbia. This became the first single to sell over a million copies in Italy. Soon after, Fidenco's beautiful rendition of Su nel cielo was chosen by the director Francesco Maselli for the soundtrack of his film Silver Spoon Set (1960). From then on, Fidenco followed in the footsteps of balladeer/cantautore Peppino Di Capri by recording in both English and Italian. Many of these recordings were covers of songs that featured prominently as motion picture themes, such as Exodus or Moon River (from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Though he never registered a win at the prestigious San Remo music festival, Fidenco nonetheless turned an impressive number of superb ballads. He reached the peak of his popularity and ranking high in the charts by the mid-60's with iconic songs like Goccia di mare, A casa d'Irene, Celestina, Come nasce un amore and Non è Vero.
By 1966, Fidenco had turned his attention to writing a plethora of scores for genre movies, ranging from spaghetti westerns (The Texican (1966), Dynamite Jim (1966), etc.) to horror (Zombie Holocaust (1980)), Japanese anime and sexploitation (notably, the Emanuelle series). His warm, melodious voice was still occasionally featured, as in the title song, La ballata del treno, for the western Bandidos. Along with Jimmy Fontana, Riccardo Del Turco and Gianni Meccia, Fidenco co-founded a nostalgic vocal quartet (Super Quattro) in 1984, giving live performances (and releasing a trio of albums) of their respective 60's hits, updated with modern arrangements. The group disbanded in 1994. Fidenco himself retired in 2014 but his distinctive - very evocatively 1960s -- music can still be heard in films like Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).
Fidenco was married to the actress Anna Maria Surdo from 1969 until his death in November 2022.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Nino Oliviero was born on 13 February 1918 in Naples, Campania, Italy. Nino was a composer, known for Nine (2009), A Dog's Life (1962) and Radhapura - Endstation der Verdammten (1968). Nino died on 1 March 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous both as a composer and as an orchestra conductor. His first oratorio, "L'infanzia di San Giovanni Battista," was performed in Milan and Paris as early as 1923 and his lyrical comedy, "Il Principe Porcaro," was composed in 1926. From 1930 to 1932, Nino Rota lived in the USA. He won a scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia where he attended classes in composition taught by Rosario Scalero and classes in orchestra taught by Fritz Reiner. He returned to Italy and earned a degree in literature from the University of Milan. In 1937, he began a teaching career that led to the directorship of the Bari Conservatory, a title he held from 1950 until his death in 1979. After his "childhood" compositions, Nino Rota wrote the following operas: Ariodante (Parma 1942), Torquemada (1943), Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (Palermo 1955), I due timidi (RAI 1950, London 1953), La notte di un neurastenico (Premio Italia 1959, La Scala 1960), Lo scoiattolo in gamba (Venezia 1959), Aladino e la lampada magica (Naples 1968), La visita meravigliosa (Palermo 1970), Napoli milionaria (Spoleto Festival 1977). He also wrote the following ballets: La rappresentazione di Adamo ed Eva (Perugia 1957), La Strada (La Scala 1965), Aci e Galatea (Rome 1971), Le Molière imaginaire (Paris and Brussels 1976) and Amor di poeta (Brussels 1978) for Maurice Béjart. In addition, there are countless works for orchestra that have been performed since before World War II and are still performed by orchestras in every part of the world. His work in film dates back to the early forties. His filmography includes the names of virtually all of the noted directors of his time. First among these is Federico Fellini. He wrote all of the movie scores for Fellini's films from The White Sheik (1952) in 1952 to Orchestra Rehearsal (1978) in 1978. Other directors include Renato Castellani, Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Mario Monicelli, Francis Ford Coppola (Oscar for best original score for The Godfather Part II (1974)), King Vidor, René Clément, Edward Dmytryk, and 'Eduardo de Filippo'. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zefirelli, and de Filippo. In February of 1995, the Nino Rota Foundation was established at Fondazione Cini of Venice, Italy. Cini specializes in the works of 20th century Italian composers and includes the estate of Casella.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actress
Nora Orlandi was born on 28 June 1933 in Voghera, Lombardy, Italy. She is a composer and actress, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Double Face (1969) and The Sweet Body of Deborah (1968).- Composer
- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
Paolo Vasile was born in 1953 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a composer and production manager, known for Il giorno del Cobra (1980), Double Murder (1977) and Fantasma en el Oeste (1978).- Composer
- Soundtrack
Peppino De Luca was born on 5 January 1936 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for 21 (2008), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and The Girl with a Pistol (1968). He died on 6 September 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Italian cantautore, a smooth, romantic balladeer, primarily in his native 'nnapuletano' dialect. Gagliardi was born in the Vasto district of Naples and became immensely popular throughout Italy in the 1960s and 70s. A gifted musician from childhood, influenced by both French and American songwriters, he first played the traditional accordion before switching to guitar and piano to accompany his singing. Most of his lyrics were written by Gaetano Amendola, including those of his first major hit, "T'amo e t'amerò" in 1963. Gagliardi achieved the height of his success in the early and mid-70s with songs like "Settembre", "Gocce di Mare", "Sempre", "Ti amo così", Che vuole questa musica stasera " (featured in, among other films, Guy Ritchie's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)), "Povero Core", "Innamorarmi di te" and "Taggio perduta". Two of his songs ranked second at the San Remo Festival in 1972: "Come le viole" and ""Come un ragazzino". He was also featured in the Italian pop musical Highest Pressure (1965), alongside other popular vocalists of the era, such as Françoise Hardy, Nicola Di Bari and Gianni Morandi.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Piero Piccioni was born in Turin (Italy) on the 6th December 1921. Son of a pure Turinese mother (her maiden name was Marengo), and from here the pseudonym Piero Morgan, which he adopted until 1957. He had played on the radio with his historic Big Band "013" in 1938, to then return, after the liberation of Italy in 1944. His was the first Italian jazz band to be aired in Italy. Piero Piccioni had listened to jazz since he was a child and had learned to play the piano without having been to the Conservatory. As a self-taught musician, his father used to accompany him to visit the E.I.A.R. in Florence, to listen to orchestral recitals. As he began to write some songs of his own he was able to get some published by Carisch. Having written nearly 300 soundtracks and pieces for radio, television, ballets and orchestra he was deeply influenced by 20th century classical composers and by American cinematography. Amongst his favourites were Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, John Ford and Alex North, who had greatly influenced him in his use of jazz.
Piero Piccioni had come in contact with the world of movies during the fifties when he was practicing as a lawyer in Rome and sealing movie rights for Italian Italian distributors as Titanus and De Laurentiis. During that time, Michelangelo Antonioni had called him to create music for a documentary for one of his apprentices, Luigi Polidoro. His first feature film was Gianni Franciolini's, "Il Mondo le Condanna"(1952). Piccioni had found a close working relationship with directors Francesco Rosi (More Than A Miracle, Le Mani Sulla Citta', Salvatore Giuliano, Chronicle of a Death Foretold) and Alberto Sordi, and had also cemented strong personal and professional bonds with them. Many directors had wanted Piero Piccioni for the music for their films: Francesco Rosi, Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Luigi Comencini, Luchino Visconti, Antonio Pietrangeli, Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Tinto Brass, Dino Risi, and more. "Swept Away"(David Donatello prize) and "Tutto A Posto Niente in Ordine" by Lina Wertmuller, "Il bell'Antonio" by Mauro Bolognini , the "Tenth Victim" by Elio Petri, with Marcello Mastroianni Ursula Andress also bear his name. His very distinctive style of Jazz, Bossanova, Orchestral and Contemporary Classical will not be easily forgotten.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Piero Umiliani was born on 17 July 1926 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a composer, known for The Spectacular Now (2013), Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) and The Muppets (2011). He died on 14 February 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born in Burano (Venice) in 1941, Pino Donaggio studied violin at the Conservatory of Venice and Milan.
After a period of adolescent performer of classical music with the Solisti Veneti and the Soloists of Milan, in 1959 he began to devote himself to the pop music that soon led to international success.
He has participated in ten editions of the Sanremo Festival getting a 3rd place in 1963 with the song "Giovane giovane" and a 4th place in 1966 with the song "Una casa in cima al mondo". His best-known song and performed is 1965 "Io che non vivo (senza te)" starring, among others, also by Elvis Presley.
Since 1973, Donaggio began gradually to abandon pop music to devote himself to composing music for films. In over forty years of activity it has put together more than two hundred soundtracks for the big and small screen, both in Italy and abroad.
He lives and works in Venice.- Composer
- Soundtrack
Pino Marchese is known for Parole de flic (1985), Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort (1988) and Les loups entre eux (1985).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Renato Serio is known for The Pumaman (1980), Jugando con la muerte (1982) and Savana: Violenza carnale (1979).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Renzo Rossellini was born on 2 February 1908 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946) and I fratelli Karamazoff (1947). He died on 13 May 1982 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Riz Ortolani was born on 25 March 1926 in Pesaro, Marche, Italy. He was a composer and actor, known for Day of Anger (1967), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Festa di laurea (1985). He was married to Katina Ranieri. He died on 23 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Robby Poitevin is known for Look Who's Back (2015), The Love Witch (2016) and Operation White Shark (1966).- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
One of only two composers to start out as a dentist (the other being English-born Wilfred Josephs) Roberto Nicolosi was born in Genoa in 1914. As well as gaining a degree in medicine, he also won a diploma in composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. After several years in Milan as a practising dentist, Nicolosi began to win popularity in the 1940s as a leading jazz musician in Italy, at first playing piano, violin, trumpet, vibraphone or double-bass, then conducting and arranging for radio and records. Moving to Rome, he wrote musical criticism and worked in nightclubs and theatres.
His movie break-through came in 1954 with the score for Folco Quilici's documentary Sesto continente (1954). In 1957 Nicolosi turned his attention to the Italian epics. Although an unlikely choice to score historical movies, he turned out to be a master of the genre, with a fine symphonic style far removed from his jazz persona. In all he turned out fifteen Italian epic scores before the craze petered out in the mid-1960s. Having retired from films in 1971, Roberto Nicolosi passed away in 1989 in a Rome hospital.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Roberto Pregadio was born on 6 December 1928 in Aci Sant'Antonio, Catania, Sicily, Italy. He was a composer, known for Our Men in Bagdad (1966), Kong Island (1968) and Three Golden Serpents (1969). He died on 15 November 2010 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
- Sante Maria Romitelli was a composer, known for Isabella, Duchess of the Devils (1969), This Time I'll Make You Rich (1974) and Sotto a chi tocca! (1972). Sante Maria died on 30 October 2004 in Perugia, Umbria, Italy.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Stefano Liberati is known for Sixteen (1973), Lover of the Monster (1974) and The Hand That Feeds the Dead (1974).- Composer
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Stefano Torossi was born on 6 January 1938 in Rome, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Friends with Kids (2011), Italiani! È severamente proibito servirsi della toilette durante le fermate (1969) and Deadly Inheritance (1968).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
He studied piano and harmony at Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. In 1957 he started playing light music, being the pianist of important singers such as Rita Pavone. In USA he studied jazz with Dave Brubeck. In 1966 he was called by Cam to compose his first soundtrack: The Bounty Killer, a film directed by Tomas Milian. After the good success, he was asked to compose other soundtracks, among which was A Man, A Horse And A Gun in 1967, which was recorded in the same year by Henry Mancini. Worldwide fame, however, came in 1970, when he composed the score for Anonymous Venetian. This score was a hit all over the world, receiving all the major awards, and is still considered one of the most famous Italian soundtracks. Another very important soundtrack is Tentacles, an American film interpreted by John Huston, Shelley Winters and Henry Fonda. Stelvio Cipriani has composed over 200 film scores, still continuing his activity.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
He completed his studies in Milan. After having received his diploma in Humanities, he attended the Faculty of Pure Mathematics at the State University for four years with good results. He specialized in music and choir song in 1944, and graduated in Composition from the Conservatory "G. Verdi" of Milan in 1945. After having fought as a partisan from 1941 to 1945, he studied in depth vocal polyphony in 1947. In the immediate postwar period, he started his musical career as a director of vocal polyphonic groups for various concerts and radio programs of polyphonic music, paying particular attention to the Italians of the XVI and XVII centuries. He moved to Rome in the late forties, and has been extremely busy writing music for cinema and for television. In the field of folk music he studied Italian regional groups, and his transcriptions, from the laudi of the 1200s to the songs of the mountain, belong to the repertory of numerous choirs. Among the most famous are Montagnes Valdotaines and Belle rose du printemps. He has also composed various songs, such as Meravigliose labbra and La canzone del faro, which were quite successful. He taught "Harmony and Counterpoint" in the conservatories of Piacenza, Bologna and L'Aquila; he retired from teaching in 1986. He created for RAI 3 TV a series of 6 episodes, each dedicated to a major contemporary Italian composer, called "Che musica è". He participated in it as Conductor, taking part in debates with the public and presenting various music performed by "Spettro sonoro". At present, he is working on music with computers, programming computers and composing "digital music". He collaborates with the C.R.M. (Center for Music Research) of Rome, creating software for the projects "FLY10" and "FLY30". Among his compositions in this genre we mention Mooning for soprano and c64, Sinite for Fly10 and soprano, and Nomina for Fly30 and soprano. Furthermore, his main compositions include music for theater, for orchestra, chamber music, film music (for films directed by Marco Ferreri and other renowned directors) and music for TV.- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Ubaldo Continiello was born on 4 May 1941 in Monteverde, Campania, Italy. He was a composer, known for Black Tigress (1967), Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976) and Play Motel (1979). He died on 20 January 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Ugo Calise was born on 6 May 1921 in Oratino, Abruzzi e Molise, Italy [now Oratino, Molise, Italy]. He was an actor and composer, known for Bread and Chocolate (1974), Una vergine per un bastardo (1966) and Kryptonite! (2011). He died on 6 August 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Vince Tempera was born on 18 September 1946 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is a composer, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Silver Saddle (1978) and Day of Violence (1977).- Composer
- Music Department
- Sound Department
Vittorio Gelmetti was born on 25 April 1926 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a composer, known for Under the Sign of Scorpio (1969), Red Desert (1964) and Attraction (1969). He died on 4 February 1992 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Walter Rizzati is known for 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), The Secret of the Incas' Empire (1987) and Our Men in Bagdad (1966).