Famous for combining true crime and political scandals into songs – and antagonising Silvio Berlusconi – Franco Trincale keeps the tradition alive in his nursing home
When Franco Trincale was a barber boy, he used to sing Sicilian songs in breaks between customers, his boss strumming the guitar.
Back then, he could never have imagined that he would grow up to become Italy’s last great cantastorie, a now dying tradition of wandering musicians who entertain audiences by recounting the news in song-form. And he could not have predicted he would still be performing at 90 – in a nursing home.
For six decades, Trincale walked the streets of Milan singing about key moments in history, from 1970s terrorism to Berlusconi’s election and the Iraq war. He has released more than 30 albums, and performed everywhere from the USSR to the US. He also played a key role in Italy’s labour rights movement, providing a soundtrack to workers’ protests.
Born in 1939 in Militello in Val di Catania, a small town in Sicily, he has been living in Milan for the past 70 years. We meet at the Il Parco delle Cave, an assisted living facility in a nondescript redbrick building, which has been his home for the past two years. Trincale has organised a concert for Valentine’s Day, and the main hall is packed with 150 people – elderly residents and their relatives. He entertains them with a recently composed song, Long Live Love. Trincale’s voice is struggling with the high notes, but the audience helps him out. After taking a moment to memorise the chorus, they sing and clap to the beat. Trincale’s wife Lina, who has Alzheimer’s and can only communicate with her eyes, is seated in the front row.
