Lanterne rosse

There are songs that are not just heard, but felt in the air like red lanterns hanging from invisible threads. Lanterne rosse is one of them: a track that weaves itself into the listener with its hypnotic melody and that raspy voice that seems to whisper from the depths of a nocturnal alley. It is not just a musical piece, but a journey where words blend with chords like ink in water, creating an effect that is not easily forgotten. The song flows in five minutes and seven seconds, but within that time lie complete landscapes: dancing shadows, distant laughter, and that echo left by the night when no one remains on the street.

Recorded in 2005 at the Officine Meccaniche studios of Mauro Pagani, Lanterne rosse was born at a time when Vinicio Capossela had already spent years exploring the sounds of his native Irpinia, that land that saw him grow up among stories and traditions. The album Ovunque proteggi, where this song appears, was presented in January 2006 at the Chiesa di San Carpoforo in Milano, but its essence came from before: a recording that took nearly six years to arrive after his previous album, Canzoni a manovella, as if each note had needed to mature in silence. It was not just another album: in 2006 it won the Targa Tenco for best album, and the following year the magazine Mojo ranked it among the best world music albums, only behind Savane by Ali Farka Touré. Even years later, Rolling Stone Italia included it in its list of the 100 most beautiful Italian albums of all time, at position 6.