“MAGIC” Franchino Official Memorial

December 21, 2024: at the Modigliani Forum in Livorno, in a long and exceptional evening that will last from sunset to dawn, the figure of an absolute icon, extremely popular and happily “irregular” of the Italian dance scene, Franchino, who passed away prematurely last May, is celebrated. Friends for life, great DJs, musicians of substance, companions of a thousand adventures, and simple fans will gather by the thousands to bring to life an event that will go down in history. The “Magic” will happen once again: as Franchino always made it happen, and as it will also happen in this last, emotional farewell organized by the people who have been most professionally linked to him over these decades.

At birth, Francesco Principato; but for all his friends and fans, simply, Franchino. Few characters have left such a deep and iconic mark on the Italian nightlife scene: his premature passing, which occurred last May 19, 2024, has affected an incredible number of people of all ages. Whether they were fierce dancefloor regulars or just occasional dancers, whether they were fifty or sixty-year-olds who experienced firsthand that authentic social (and cultural) phenomenon that were Italian discos from the late 80s through the 90s, or on the contrary, they are twenty-year-olds today who have only heard about these things from their fathers, uncles, and older brothers, nothing changes. Nothing. Franchino’s figure was so unique, peculiar, lively, iconic, and imaginative that it transcended boundaries, fences, habits, tastes, and generations in a truly surprising and strong way.

This happened because he always maintained a purity and a passion that were more unique than rare. Thanks to his solo adventures or with his lifelong friends and members of the Metempsicosi group, thanks to his simply unique, bizarre, and unmistakable style, thanks to his almost childlike lightness which instead concealed a great desire for intensity and hunger for life, until the end Franchino continued to enchant thousands of people at every appearance, becoming decidedly an absolute cult – without ever wanting to put himself on a pedestal. For many, it was his presence and his very particular way of interpreting the role of the vocalist – transforming it into a “lysergic storyteller” – that was the perfect means to decipher the not so banal secrets of the world of dance, house music, the dreamy melodic trance variations, and the ability of the straight bass drum in four-four time to be (also) a way to dream and not just a merely physical and “empty” outlet on the dance floor.

Franchino’s passing leaves a big void. Firstly in the people who have been his friends and who have shared a thousand professional and human adventures with him: it is from them that the idea of ​​creating a great event next December 21, 2024, at the Modigliani Forum in Livorno (one of the largest sports arenas in Italy), which can truly celebrate Franchino: who he was, what he represented, the infinite love that over the decades he was able to gather around himself with lightness. An appointment that will bring together thousands of people from all over Italy, which will bring to the stage (or even just to the stands…) lifelong friends: famous artists but also simple enthusiasts, industry professionals still at the top of their game as well as people who experienced the “Magic” – an iconic word in Franchino’s vocalist lexicon – of the 90s and then moved on to other things, but who will not want to miss giving a last farewell to a person whom they immediately felt as a friend, as an emotional guide.

A long evening – from 6 pm until the early lights of dawn – that promises to be epochal, exciting. And the perception of all this is already there: the first ticket pre-sale release sold out in an instant. The advice is not to miss the current release and the upcoming ones. It will be a night to remember. It will be a night full of “Magic”, full of Franchino, full of his world, his dreams, his visions.