Buio Pesto is a musical band from the small town of Bogliasco near

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Italy. The name of the group is an Italian way to describe something very dark, but at the same time the word ''pesto'' can also refer to the typical

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

n pasta sauce, pesto. As a matter of fact the band's logo, characterized by a strong green colour, resembles a Ligurian

basil Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...

leaf, which is the most important ingredient for pesto. The musical style varies from rock, to rap, to

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and to

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. The most important characteristic of their lyrics is the strong sarcasm and comic irony which gives the music a peculiar goliardic touch. In 2005, Genoa gave Buio Pesto the Disco D'Oro (Gold record) because they reached 50,000 albums sold.

History

''Buio Pesto'' were founded in 1983, although their very "professional" period started in 1992 with the recording of their first album, '' Voglio una fidanzata'' (I want a Girlfriend), published first by Deadline / Discomagic and then in 1996 by

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

. Significantly, in 1995 the music career of Buio Pesto changed fully, along with their decision to sing in the local language, Ligurian. From then until now, they have sold 60,000 records and performed more than 400 concerts (with a total of 680,000 people among the audience), while collecting more than 254,000,000 Lire for charity. Their second album, ''Cosmolandia'', was released in 1998 and sold more than 3,000 copies; it contains an unedited song ''Cosmolandia'' as sung by

Franco Malerba Franco Egidio Malerba (born 10 October 1946 in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an Italian astronaut and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space. In 1994, he was elected to the Europ ...

, the first Italian

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

in space for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in 1992 with the

Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. ''Atlantis'' was manufactured by the Rockw ...

STS-46. In 1999 the

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the Space Shuttle orbiter, orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully opera ...

STS-103 was launched from

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

transporting the album on board . ''Cosmolandia'' was the first Italian song album to fly to space. Buio Pesto even produced the first sci-fi movie entirely shot in Italy: InvaXön - Alieni in Liguria. They have had various guests in some of their albums such as

Marco Masini Marco Masini (born 18 September 1964) is an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and pianist. As of 2021, he has released 26 albums. His best-known songs include " Disperato" (1990) and " L'uomo volante" (2004). Early years Marco Masini was bo ...

and Elio e le Storie tese, and Ligurian

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

singer Piero Parodi.

Band

The main members of the band are: * Massimo Morini – main vocals and keyboards * Nino Cancilla – bass * Gianni Casella – vocals * Federica Saba – vocals * Massimo Bosso – lyrics, vocals and production * Giorgia Vassallo – vocals

Former members

* Davide Ageno – guitar and vocals * Danilo Straulino – drums * Maurizio Borzone – violin and vocals The staff of Buio Pesto counts 45 members altogether. The initial group comprised Alex Pagnucco (bass) and Andrea "Pagen" Paglierini (vocals).

Discography

;Dead Line / Discomagic: *'' Voglio una fidanzata'' ;Grigua/Discolandia *'' Belinlandia'' (1995) *'' Cosmolandia'' (1998) *''

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

'' (2000) *'' Zeneize'' (2001) *'' Paganini'' (2001) *'' Basilico'' (2004) *'' Palanche'' (2006) *''

'' (2008) *'' Pesto'' (2010) * '' Zeneize'' (2012) * '' Buio Pesto'' (2014) * '' Liguri'' (2016) ;Videolandia / Discolandia *'' Belin che video!'' (2001) *'' Buio Pesto al Teatro Carlo Felice'' (2002) *'' Buio Pesto'' (2005)

References

External links

official website

IMDB's InvaXon
{{Authority control Italian musical groups