Peppe Vessicchio

"In Neapolitan tradition, mandolins, guitars and accordions were part of everyday life, just like kitchen utensils."

"(About the song Ti lascio una canzone) Gino wanted to pay tribute to Ornella Vanoni as a seal on their story. I loved the idea: even before it was born, that song already had a life of its own. He wrote the lyrics, I wrote the music. Paoli was like a cat: you never knew whether he was going to scratch you or purr."

"Pippo was powerful, demanding and competent. If he didn't like one of the arrangements, we would go back and write until late at night. [The Sanremo Festival] was his home: just think, one morning I caught him moving a flower box at the theatre entrance."

"(About the Sanremo Festival) It has gone from being a song festival to a product festival. This is a consequence of the rapid obsolescence of lyrics: once upon a time, an artist dreamed of finding a song that would remain in their repertoire forever. Today, what matters is doing something that works immediately."

"What is produced today is mostly modest. Music has become tribal: fewer and fewer elements are used, and songs are monotonous."