wins Nicolò Fagnani with his song “Ancora qui”
“In this immobile exodus that has been going on for two years now, music and poetry have been a kind of resistance. Tonight we pay homage to the resistance of a fragile and defenseless people who have been able to write love songs, saving the pain of the obvious and commonplaces, from the mobile prison where we traveled. These songs call us back to a life that is not without hope and is not without despair. Good luck to Sara Fortini, Manco, Innamorati, Nicolò Fagnani, Modna and a dear greeting to Silvia and Ermanno ». These are the words of encouragement from the singer-songwriter and record producer Massimo Bubola, historic president of the jury of the first edition of the Arte d’Amore Award, in 2020.
The third edition of the Arte d’Amore Award, dedicated to the love songwriter, saw the singer-songwriter Nicolò Fagnani triumph with the song “Ancora qui”. Second place for Lovers with “In un bel film” and third place for Modna with “I’ll take you to Paris”. Evening dedicated to music which opened with greetings from the organizers, Alessandra Biti, president of Studioventisette and Alessandro Formenti, artistic events manager of Doc Servizi Verona, and congratulations for the initiative of the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Verona, Francesca Briani. Fresh from online publication, the video clip of the song “Come si fa” of Le cosefficienti was then shown, winners of the Arte d’Amore 2021 Award, whose production, direction, editing, editing, location scouting and management were entirely edited by StudioVentisette.
Entering the heart of the Award, Angelo Peretti, director of the Consortium for the Protection of Bardolino and Chiaretto, who has always been committed to supporting emerging music and art, and Francesca Vanzo, director of Agsm Aim, a supporter in giving energy to new talents with the best energies. Later, Luca Tacconi, President of the production company Sotto il Mare Recording Studios and Daniele Benati, Italian singer and guitarist of the funk group Ridillo, spoke about how the creative processes of a song take place and how, as quality jurors of the Award, they worked to enhance the songs proposed in the competition.
Music then became the protagonist with the presentation of the five finalists and their songs: Sara Fortini with “Love me like this”, Antonio Manco with “Stupidi”, Lovers with “In a beautiful film”, Nicolò Fagnani with the song “Ancora qui” and Modna with “I’ll take you to Paris”. At the moment, a moment of special discussion on the works between Alessandro Formenti and the president of the quality jury, the singer, musician and record producer Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, founder of La Crus, who gave his personal opinion to each song and valuable advice for the future to every artist. Before the announcement of the winner, perhaps the most touching moment of the evening with the memory of the singer-songwriter and guitarist Erriquez di Bandabardo ‘, who passed away on Valentine’s Day in 2021, with a greeting from his wife Silvia Maglione and a greeting message from Massimo Bubola , president of the first edition of the Arte d’Amore Prize. Finally, greetings from Andrea Ponzoni, operational director of Freecom Hub.
Alessandro Formenti finally announces the announcement of the winner, specifying that the evaluation was formulated by a Jury composed of 22 personalities, including professionals from the entertainment and music sector, discography, production, publishing and communication, and a listening group representing the audience of the music industry. «Nicolo Fagnani, with the song“ Ancora qui ”is the winner voted by the jury almost unanimously. A piece with a contemporary writing and feet firmly planted in the present, an “urban soul” style that tells the present well “explains Formenti.” In the text the hope and the desire to find love with a strong emotion of not knowing how to behave when Nicolò has all the qualities to become a good artist and now the staff of the Arte d’Amore Prize will help him make this reality. ”Second place for Lovers and third for Modna. At the end of the final greetings and thanks, the video of the song “Romeo and Juliet” by Dire Straits, interpreted by numerous Veronese artists last year for the Love event, on the occasion of the “Verona in Love” review.
Who is Nicolò Fagnani
Born in 1994, he has always had a passion for music, but after two years of modern dance and hip hop, at the age of 14, he began taking singing lessons and becoming passionate about various musical genres such as Soul, Blues , Jazz and Funk. In 2012 he competed in his first national contest, the “Tour Music Fest” and, after having passed the first selections with a piece by Frank Sinatra, he participated in the Mogol Music Stage, at his Tenuta dei Ciclamini. After this formative experience, he began performing live acoustically in some clubs in Verona, until he founded his current acoustic duo “The Lazy Duo” in 2020, with Katia Residori on guitar. Over time he began to write original songs with the help of a musician friend, and again in 2020 he released his first single “I’m fine the same”.
2021 is the year of release of 3 other singles, including the last one, “Autotune”, which manages to end up in rotation in various Italian radios above all, who know him in his city and lead him to perform live in various places in the Verona area. In January 2022, his new single “Rifugio” was released, with which he ends up in various playlists, reviews and online magazines including “Il Sole 24 Ore”. The song is put in rotation on more than 150 radios including Radio Freccia, Radio Coop, Radio Cusano and others. Nicolò defines himself as a pop artist who, however, wants to bring his “vintage” musical background into his songs, in fact among his greatest musical influences are names like Etta James, Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Amy Winehouse, Ray Carlo and many others.