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Giuseppe Povia (; born November 19, 1972), better known just as Povia (), is an Italian pop singer-songwriter.


Biography

Born in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
, he began teaching himself guitar. He taught himself how to play music by ear; by the time he was 20, he began to compose music. In 1999 he enrolled in the Academy of Sanremo where he met
Giancarlo Bigazzi Giancarlo Bigazzi (5 September 1940 – 19 January 2012) was an Italian music producer and composer. He was a former member of comedy music group Squallor. Life and career Born in Florence, he was one of the best known Italian songwriters and ly ...
. In his songs, Povia frequently takes on social issues. In 2003 he addressed
bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known simply as bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating (eating large quantities of food in a short period of time, often feeling out of control) followed by compensatory behaviors, such as self-induc ...
with his song ''Mia sorella''. In 2005 his single "Avamposto 55" talked about the children of
Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...
. In 2005 he produced the single "I bambini fanno: ooh..." from which the proceeds were used in a campaign he started to build hospitals in Darfur. The single spent 20 non-consecutive (19 of which were consecutive) weeks at the top of the
Italian Singles Chart The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) or the Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when ...
, selling 150,000 copies and becoming Italy's biggest-selling single of 2005. The single also received special accolades from
Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...
. He won the
Sanremo Music Festival 2006 The Sanremo Music Festival 2006 (), officially the 56th Italian Song Festival (), was the 56th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 27 February and 3 March 2006 and broadcast by (RAI). The show was presente ...
with the song " Vorrei avere il becco". In 2009 he ranked second place in the 59th Sanremo Music Festival with his song "Luca era gay". Despite the media initially thinking that the song was about Luca Tolve, a man who had allegedly reversed his homosexuality following the therapies of
Joseph Nicolosi Joseph Nicolosi (January 24, 1947 – March 8, 2017) was an American clinical psychologist who advocated and practised "reparative therapy", a form of the pseudoscientific treatment of conversion therapy that he claimed could help people ove ...
,Gay row hits Sanremo festival Group threatens to disrupt event over 'gay convert' song
Povia declared that the song was about a man called Massimiliano whom he met on a train from Milan to Rome. During the train ride the man told Povia his personal story about "having been gay", but now being married with children.


Personal life and views

He has been married since 2007 to Teresa, with whom he has two daughters, Emma (2005) and Amelia (2007). He has lived in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
for many years. Always considering himself to be close to right-wing positions, from around 2013 Povia began to publicly express
Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...
and
sovereigntist Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from , , meaning "the ideology of sovereignty") is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation or globe. Typically ...
ideas. He has repeatedly declared himself a sympathizer of
Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
,
Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...
, Riscossa Italia, and
The People of the Family The People of the Family (, PdF), is a social conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. Its leader and President is Mario Adinolfi, writer and director of ''La Croce'' newspaper and former member of the Democratic ...
, while he has often criticized the Democratic Party.


Statements against immigration

In May 2013, Povia criticized
Cécile Kyenge Cécile Kashetu Kyenge (; born Kashetu Kyenge, 28 August 1964) is an Italian politician and ophthalmologist. She was the Minister for Integration in the 2013–14 Letta Cabinet. From 2014 until 2019, she was a Member of the European Parliament ( ...
on Facebook stating that "if you take the problems of non-EU citizens to heart by giving them priority in a country like Italy, then it annoys me too. Italy must be managed by Italians. ..If this continues, Italy will go to the Chinese." In July 2017, Povia praised the launch of a
Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...
against a hotel property of the Italian entrepreneur Valerio Ponchiardi guilty of hosting 35 refugees. Povia called this action a patriotic act. Povia also supported the existence of a " Kalergi plan" for the substitution of the European peoples through also false quotations to Kalergi himself.


Misinformation allegations


Chemtrails

Povia declared that
chemtrails The chemtrail conspiracy theory is the erroneous belief that long-lasting Contrail, condensation trails left in the sky by high-flying aircraft are actually "chemtrails" consisting of chemical weapon, chemical or biological agents, sprayed f ...
exist and reported their danger.


Earthquakes

Povia proposed, on several occasions, a pseudoscientific theory to explain why earthquakes occur. The theory in question asserts that the large number of people on earth (7 billion) can produce earthquakes with their movement. But it has been repeatedly demonstrated, scientifically, that even if each person on the planet were clustered together, this would not lead to any earthquake, given that the total weight has a mass that is too dilated and distributed to cause an earthquake.


Vaccines

Povia has repeatedly expressed opposition to the vaccines and, in addition to believing in the correlation between
vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified. A vaccine typically contains an ag ...
and
autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...
(mistakenly described by him as "brain damage"), justifies its use only by virtue of social emergencies as (according to him) mass immigration or poor food. Povia himself has supported the free vax movement (which many associate with a gimmick to avoid being accused of antivaccinism).


Discography


Studio albums

*''Evviva i pazzi... che hanno capito cos'è l'amore'' (2005) *''I bambini fanno "ooh..." la storia continua...'' (2006) *''La storia continua... la tavola rotonda'' (2007) *''Uniti'' with
Francesco Baccini Francesco Baccini (born 4 October 1960) is an Italian singer-songwriter. Background Born in Genoa, Baccini made his official debut in 1988 with the stage name Espressione Musica, with "Mamma dammi i soldi", the closing theme song of the 38th ...
(2008) *''Centravanti di mestiere'' (2009) *''Non basta un sorriso'' (2009) *''Scacco matto'' (2010) *''Il mondo è di tutti'' (2011) *''I "bambini" fanno rock'' (2012) *''Nuovo contrordine mondiale'' (2016)


Singles

*"I bambini fanno "ooh..."" (2005) *" Vorrei avere il becco" (2006) *"Luca era gay" (2009) *"La verità" (2010)


Awards

2003 Premio Musicultura per la canzone Mia sorella
2005 Premio Mei "etichette indipendenti"
2005 Premio Lunezia nuove stelle 2005
2006 Primo premio al Festival della Canzone Italiana
2008 Leone d'argento alla carriera per la musica
2009 Premio Sala Stampa RadioTv al Festival della Canzone Italiana
2009 Premio Mogol per il testo della canzone Luca era gay
2011 Music Awards – Premio Confindustria Cultura Italia FIMI, AFI e PMI
2011 Targa nella Strada del Festival di Sanremo in Via Matteotti a Sanremo, per il brano Vorrei avere il becco


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Povia 1972 births Living people Italian anti-vaccination activists Singers from Milan 21st-century Italian male singers Italian male singer-songwriters 21st-century Italian singer-songwriters Sanremo Music Festival winners Italian conspiracy theorists