In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus by the Greeks for a frenzy he is said to induce called baccheia. As Dionysus Eleutherius, his wine, music, and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restraints of the powerful. His thyrsus, a fennel-stem sceptre, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a weapon used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. Those who partake of his mysteries are believed to become possessed and empowered by the god himself.
Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received the first Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He is considered the first Italian cantautore.
Starcrash is a 1978 space opera film directed and co-written by Luigi Cozzi, and starring Marjoe Gortner, Caroline Munro, David Hasselhoff, Joe Spinell and Christopher Plummer.
Catherine Howe is an English singer-songwriter. She is an Ivor Novello Award winner who has earned critical acclaim in dozens of music magazines both in the UK and the US, including Folk Album of the Year from The Sunday Times.
Eaten Alive! is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film is about a young woman who is searching for her sister after her abduction by a cult in the jungles of New Guinea.
Mario Magnotta was an Italian janitor of a commercial school in L'Aquila, Abruzzo. He became very well known in Italy after being the victim of several prank calls, made in 1986 and 1987 by some former students of the institute, which were later circulated on audio cassettes and, eventually, on the Internet.
Illyrian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices of the Illyrian peoples, a group of tribes who spoke the Illyrian languages and inhabited part of the western Balkan Peninsula from at least the 8th century BC until the 7th century AD. The available written sources are very tenuous. They consist largely of personal and place names, and a few glosses from Classical sources.
Images in a Convent is a 1979 sexploitation film by Italian cult filmmaker Joe D'Amato starring Paola Senatore, Marina Hedman and Donald O'Brien.
Riccardo Fogli is an Italian singer-songwriter.
Evaristo Márquez, was a Colombian actor and herdsman best known for his role as José Dolores in the film Burn!, acting alongside Marlon Brando under the direction of Gillo Pontecorvo.
The commedia sexy all'italiana, also known as commedia scollacciata or commedia erotica all'italiana, is a subgenre of the Italian commedia all'italiana film genre.
Gianna Lou Cassini, better known with her stage name Nadia Cassini, is a retired American actress, singer and showgirl who became famous in Italian exploitation films of the 1970s and early 1980s, particularly in the commedia sexy all'italiana genre in late 1970s.
Beryl Cunningham was a Jamaican actress and model, mainly active in Italian cinema.
Augusto Martelli was an Italian composer, conductor, arranger and television personality.
Mariangela Giordano was an Italian film and television actress.
Luciana Turina is an Italian singer, actress and television personality.
The Invisible Boy is a 2014 Italian fantasy-superhero film directed by Gabriele Salvatores.
Medici is a historical drama television series created by Frank Spotnitz and Nicholas Meyer. The series was produced by Italian companies Lux Vide and Rai Fiction, in collaboration with Spotnitz's Big Light Productions. The series follows the House of Medici, bankers of the Pope, in 15th-century Florence. Each season follows the events of a particular moment of the family's history exploring the political and artistic landscape of Renaissance Italy.
"24.000 baci", also appearing as "24 mila baci", is a 1961 song composed by Ezio Leoni, Piero Vivarelli, Lucio Fulci, and Adriano Celentano. The song premiered at the 11th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with a double performance of Adriano Celentano and Little Tony, and placed at the second place. It is regarded as the first rock and roll song to enter the competition at the Sanremo Festival. During his performance, Celentano created a large controversy for performing part of the song with his back to the public.
Satanik is a 1968 film directed by Piero Vivarelli. It is based on the Italian comic series Satanik and was released to a moderate financial success in Italy.
