Follow the beat A journey through the history of Italian clubbing

 300,000 lire. Days under the sun in the uncle's yard working hard to be here. He had heard about it from his older brother and, now that he is here, under the transparent pyramid that reflects the darkness of the night and the colored strobe lights, Jonah feels tiredness slipping away, beat after beats, while behind the console a DJ dictates the rhythm of his steps. Buncia, buncia, buncia. Rimini like Florence. Luca stops, laces his shoes and, standing up for a moment in the window in front of him sees the eighteen year old, pale, heavy makeup and tight pants, lined up in front of the Tenax for the live Tuxedomoon ... Buncia, buncia, buncia. Florence like Milan. Dressing up to be yourself, moving to the rhythm of your soul. As she sings loudly, in unison with the crowd, the accursed refrain of an old 80s hit, Anna pulls away the hair that covers her eyes and feels free, strong. She feels at home ... Buncia, buncia, buncia. Milan like Turin. It's a beautiful night. Sara closes her eyes and breathes the acrid air that rises from the river Po, invades the Murazzi and mixes with the smell of smoke, sweat, food, post-adolescent spirit of those who pass by.

Different people, places, different times. All united by a rhythm, a sound, a beat. It is the magic of the history of Italian clubbing.

 

Tenax - Florence.

The luck of the Metropolis, like that of clubbing in Naples (and not only) is closely connected to the Angels of Love, collective of party makers, born in 1990, from the mind of Charlie Hall, Eren, Mr. Monday and Claudio Coccoluto. They are screaming to the world that the music of the moment is the house and, to spread it, organize evenings everywhere, in abandoned circus tents, in hangars, even in a shed where they collected the potatoes playing for the first time in Italy Frankie Knuckles, one of the pioneers of the genre. Right at the Metropolis of Ischitella, a village on the outskirts of Naples, the group of promoters makes the first dance concert of the most famous drum n'bass music player in the world: Goldie.

A fun fact: in this Neapolitan club are experienced the first hip hop evenings that have an unexpected success involving young people from all over Italy.

 

Alterego – Verona

In the golden age it is not only one of the historical places of the city, situated on the Torricelle, the hills that dominate the center of Verona, but it is one of the best known in European clubbing. Born in the sixties as a dancing, at the end of the eighties, it became AlterEgo. In the 90s, famous for a mixture of tribal rhythms and psychedelic electronics, it is the mecca of rave and dj of international fame. All until 2008, when a max anti-drug raid leads to a long period of closure.

Reopened in 2015, the restaurant is currently conceived as a container of commercial music, hip-hop and revival of the nineties, house and techno, with famous guests coming largely from the world of small screen.

 

I Murazzi – Turin

If today the Club to Club is the symbolic event of dancing torinity, in the past this role was played by i Murazzi, that is that part of the Po riverfront, under Piazza Vittorio. Not just a place full of bars, clubs and discos, but the real heart of the night city. Explaining the atmosphere that was breathed by those who did not attend them, before the "restyling" of the last years, is almost impossible. The secret was perhaps in the energy that the area emanated, created by the meeting between them of the most diverse people, who probably never would have been in the day, but for a mysterious short-circuit gave life to the stories "most absurd, beautiful and poetics ", as someone has defined them.

The most historic and significant among those of the Murazzi is the Circolo Amici del Po, better known by the Turinese as "Giancarlo". It was a regular appointment for thousands of visitors to the arcades on the banks of the river Po, a sort of crowded discopub that put different music depending on the mood of the evenings