Giovanna Marini

Nicknamed the "Joan Baez of Italy", Giovanna Marini left a deep mark on Italy's folk music scene, standing out for her socially committed songs. Besides her collaborations with Ivan Della Mea, Paolo Pietrangeli, the Pastori di Orgosolo and the Gruppo di Piadena, one in particular stands out: the one with Francesco De Gregori on the album "Il fischio del vapore" (2002), which gathers classics of Italian popular music enriched with new ideas. After Pasolini's death, she stated: "A country capable of killing a poet is a sick country."

Born in Rome, daughter of composer Giovanni Salviucci and a student of Andres Segovia, Giovanna Marini was one of the most important "cantastorie" (storytelling singers), as she liked to call herself, in the Italian music scene. In the 1960s she mixed with intellectuals and writers such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italo Calvino, Roberto Leydi, Gianni Bosio and Diego Carpitella, who introduced her to folk and singer-songwriter music. In the years that followed, Marini contributed to the history of the "Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano", touring Italy with social songs alongside various politically engaged singer-songwriters. In the 1970s she founded Italy's first popular music school, in Rome's Testaccio neighbourhood.

Over all these years she has written a great deal of music for theatre and film: works directed by Attilio Corsini, Marco Mattolini, Ascanio Celestini, Citto Maselli and Nanni Loy.

Among her stage works are "Ci ragiono e canto", directed by Dario Fo in 1965, "Vi parlo dell'America", "Chiesa Chiesa" and "Eroe".

In 2016, his music soundtracked the documentary “Un paese di Calabria”, centered on the history of the town of Riace. His “Bella ciao”, sung in the heart of Garbatella, was the soundtrack to April 25th, 2023.