Southern Europe
The sound of Italy
The cantautori — singer-songwriters working at album length — are the tradition worth knowing, and the progressive rock scene of the seventies was among the most ambitious anywhere.
1,063 artists in the catalog.
What Italy does that nowhere else does
Genres far more common here than across the rest of the catalog. The multiplier is how much more common, weighted by how many artists carry it.
Five records to start with
Not a canon — a way in. Each one links to what it is, who it's for and where to go next.
Italian artists worth walking into
Ordered by how much we can tell you, not just by how well-known they are.
Andrea Bocelli
opera
Where to start →Nek
rock music
Where to start →Caparezza
hip-hop · rapping
Where to start →Vasco Rossi
pop music · pop rock
Where to start →Franco Battiato
electro · experimental music
Where to start →Gianna Nannini
rock music
Where to start →Gianni Morandi
easy listening · electronic dance music
Where to start →Elisa
pop music
Where to start →Laura Pausini
pop music · rock music
Where to start →Mia Martini
pop music
Where to start →Gigi D'Agostino
Italo dance · Latin jazz
Where to start →J-Ax
hip-hop · pop music
Where to start →