Tenor Banjo · Mandolin · Bouzouki · Guitar
Italian musician from northern Italy, best known as a tenor banjo and mandolin player in Irish traditional music. Co-founder of Gadan, founder of Uncle Bard & The Dirty Bastards, founder of Hyades.
About
I play music since I was a kid. I started playing guitar, both acoustic and electric, as probably everyone does, but today my main instruments are the tenor banjo and the mandolin. As I grow older my main interest is folk music, especially Irish traditional music, which I absolutely love to play.
During the 2000s, the Celtic Tiger years, I had friends living and working in Dublin and I spent a large part of that decade going up and down between Italy and Ireland. That is how I fell in love with Irish music, society and culture, and it changed my life. Back home, I grew up musically under the guidance of my mentor Luca Crespi, founder of Inis Fail, and I owe him a great deal of what I know.
Bands
In 2007 I founded Uncle Bard & The Dirty Bastards: celtic rock spiced up with traditional Irish music, made by lads who, in one way or another, lived or spent too much time in Ireland. Too rock for the folkies and too folk for the rockies, we mix a rock backbone with uilleann pipes, tenor banjo, mandolin and Irish flute, and few bands in the folk rock scene can match our deep knowledge of Irish traditional music and Irish culture. I also run most of the band’s production, management and booking myself. In 2019 we were the first Italian band ever to play the Dublin Irish Festival in Ohio, the most important Irish music festival in the United States. We have played around 1,000 gigs worldwide, from Rock the Ring and the Toggenburg Irish Festival in Switzerland to Sjock in Belgium, Elfia in the Netherlands, Celtica and Bustofolk in Italy, sharing the stage three times with Dropkick Murphys, touring Italy with Flogging Molly, and playing with The Dubliners, De Danann, Volbeat and Frank Turner. On tin whistle, Irish flute and uilleann pipes the band has Luca Crespi, founder of Inis Fail, with us since 2013.
In 2021 I founded Gadan with Jacopo Ventura, as two musicians from the Irish and European folk scene: a storming band blending the drive of Irish traditional music and bluegrass with the soul of Celtic and Appalachian roots music, all spiced with unmistakable Italian seasoning. Fiddle virtuoso Joan Gatti brought a fresh and contemporary sound to the band, and in 2024 we joined forces with my banjo teacher Enda Scahill, tenor banjo legend and founder of We Banjo 3: sharing the stage with him is a privilege and a school in itself. From 2025, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player Eric Long, from the Appalachian heartland of Pennsylvania, completes the line-up. Three banjos, fiddle, mandolin and guitar: a powerful strings-only sound driven by a relentless rhythmic pulse. Our album May The Divil Tune Your Banjos came out in 2025. Gadan is now first and foremost a touring band: extensive tours of the United States, where we have played all the major Irish festivals, and regular dates in the UK and across Europe.
I founded thrash metal band Hyades in 1996, when I was 14 years old, and I have been its guitar player ever since, writing lyrics and music for four albums released worldwide by Mausoleum Records (Belgium) and Punishment18 Records (Italy). With Hyades I played all over Europe, including a full European tour as support for US act Omen and live appearances at some of the most important metal festivals in the world, sharing the stage with some of my favourite bands, such as The Misfits, Agnostic Front, Tankard, G.B.H., UK Subs and Sham 69.
Discography
Banjo Lessons
I teach Irish tenor banjo and mandolin at music schools, and I also give private lessons.
One to one banjo and mandolin tuition.
Instruments
