Italy-born Manchester musician Julia Bardo takes the Covid-induced prolonged separation from her homeland as an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of identity and the impact foreign cultures can have on our perception of life. The outcome is a love letter to the cinema of Fellini and Antonioni and to the need of screaming the attachment to one’s roots.

Kit Sebastian release C’est Quoi le Mantra Moderne, an introspective Super 8 short film to reflect on their artistic manifesto and aesthetics.

When in August 1980 Bologna is hit by a devastating terror attack, the city is stuck between the old-fashioned folklorist tradition of Liscio and the roaring rise of Italo Disco under the influence of American liberalism. Meanwhile, heroin and punk creep through a scarred city.

As Milan is hit by the bombing attack in Piazza Fontana that marks the beginning of the Strategy of Tension, Bossa Nova and Samba play on Italian radios painting the portrait of a vanishing country. The evocative South American rhythms with their uptempo saudade, imported by asylum-seeking Brazilian artists, clash with the violence and industrialisation clogging Italy. For the second installment of Italia 70 - The Sound of Political Dissent, Lorenzo Cibrario looks into the loss of innocence of a country.

A playlist to celebrate the synaesthetic genius and vision of Ennio Morricone, through a selection of lesser-known soundtrack cuts defeating the often limited understanding of the Maestro, including cocktail sambas, psychedelic experiments and groovy disco.

Franco Turcati turned a passion for photography into a career in advertising thanks to his savoir faire and a strong, authentic artistic vision. We reached him in his archive in Turin to discuss the tricks of his trade, secretly turning into a paparazzi to shoot Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull’s love getaway, and contributing to establishing Superga as a worldwide brand.

Jamming from a garden cabin, Devon trio Dal offer a fresh, contemporary take on jazz and hip hop with debut single ‘Those Days’.

Italia 70 is a series of stories exploring the music that soundtracked the Years of Lead, the turbulent and overtly politicised times that left an indelible mark in Italian history. Lorenzo Cibrario leads us through the maze-like alleys of Genoa among Lambretta-riding Red Brigades terrorists and mysterious Pakistani funk musician Ramasandiran Somusundaram.

Milan-based musician and synth-collector ItalOscillazioni curated a playlist of Italo Disco gems and talked to Synaesthetic Magazine about his artistic vision.