Porto Antico Prog Fest 2025 - Genova

Black Widow Records celebrated the 10th edition of the Porto Antico Prog Fest by putting together an impressive range of acts, an all-Italian affair comprising old hands and newer bands playing a wide range of prog rock styles from dark prog to Italian horror film soundtrack music, over two evenings. I’ve managed to attend eight of the Prog Fests and in that time I’ve seen bands that I never thought I’d get to see and made some good friends along the way. I have a deep respect for Massimo Gasperini and Pino Pintabona from Black Widow Records who stage the event and I’m pleased to say I count them amongst my Genovese friends. I’ve also managed to befriend some of the musicians, starting with Melting Clock at my first appearance in 2017 when I told bassist Alessandro Bosca how much I’d enjoyed the band’s set when we were both buying a beer; the event has become a fixture in my summer calendar.

The first evening began with ARPIA, originally trio formed by Leonardo Bonetti (the bassist and vocalist), Fabio Brait (guitar) and Aldo Orazi (drums) in 1984. They produced two self-released cassettes in 1987 and 1988 before adding synthesizer to their sonic armoury and releasing the Liberazione CD in 1995, a dark prog album concerning the country’s emergence from fascism. The subsequent release, Terramare, appeared 11 years later and its theme of polarities, reflected in the title ‘earth-sea’ was hard rock, if not metal, and featured guest vocals by Paola Feraiorni. Feraiorni had become a band member when Racconto d’inverno was released in 2009 and this displayed another shift in style. I believe it was this album that formed the basis of the set, which was melodic and intricate with acoustic guitar and featured vocals from new singer Valentina Citti.

I’ve seen Sophya Baccini perform a number of times at the Prog Fest, providing guest vocals for Il Segno del Comando and Universal Totem Orchestra and fronting her own band Aradia, but her first band, PRESENCE, a group at the vanguard of Italian symphonic prog metal, had not played there before. The symphonic nature of their music meant that Baccini, Enrico Iglio (keyboards) and Sergio Casamassima (guitar) were supplemented by Giuliano Albanese on drums and Brunello Canessa on bass. Released last year, the album Them has proved to be something of an international success but the only track that I recognised was the anthemic If You Dare although the full arrangement may have diminished the role of the keyboards evident on the recording.

Legendary 70’s band THE TRIP actually formed in London in 1966 and originally included future Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Heading to Italy in search of success, keyboard player Joe Vescovi and drummer Pino Sinnone replaced Blackmore and Ian Broad respectively. Hosted by Pino ‘Caronte’ Sinnone, Andrea Ranfa (vocals), Adriano Arena (guitar), Leonardo Bruzza (bass/vocals) and Ivan Fusco (keyboards) the performance was dedicated to the memory of Joe Vescovi who died in 2014 and entrusted Sinnone with the continuation of the band. In fact the slide show behind the group was also dedicated to former members Arvid ‘Wegg’ Andersen and Billy Gray who have since passed away and while the set was comprised of Caronte from 1971, we were also treated to some of the group’s 2023 album Now The Time Has Come.

Headliners GOBLIN LEGACY boasted a line-up seeped in the horror soundtrack masters’ DNA: Keyboard player Maurizio Guarini, a member of Goblin since Roller in 1975; original drummer Walter Martino; guitarist Giacomo Anselmi, a former member of Goblin Rebirth; and bassist Roberto Fasciani. This formation was assembled in 2024 after a prolonged period of inactivity and while I’ve previously seen two versions of Goblin fronted by Claudio Simonetti and was really impressed, and GOBLIN LEGACY didn’t disappoint either, with a set picked from the soundtrack material and studio work. It was almost like a postscript to the 2024 prog fest which involved a horror theme where Goblin’s music was covered by HORROR BACH but didn’t involve any of the Goblin projects, so their appearance was appreciated by the crowd.

Tuscan jazz-rock band ALIANTE were first on the bill on the second evening. Comprised of Alfonso Capasso (bass), Jacopo Giusti (drums), Davide Capitanio (guitar) and Michele Lenzi (keyboards), they released their fourth album Anime Invisibili last year. I’ve got all but the first of their albums and I’ve been captivated as their music has evolved steadily towards something akin to Camel’s Moonmadness, making the set an immensely enjoyable and perfect performance of jazz tinged prog.

Possibly the surprise of the 2024 edition of the Prog Fest, GOTHO were on the bill for a second year running. Fabio Cuomo (keyboards) and Andrea Peracchia (drums) were introducing their new album Gothron versus Fartark, a title that thumbed its nose to the perceived serious nature of prog, and they served up a bombastic performance in the theatrical style last year but extended the range of musical styles from dark prog, horror soundtrack and classical with bursts of metal, jazz and more.

I was quite excited when I heard that L'UOVO DI COLOMBO had been included in the festival line-up. I’ve got a cherished copy of the homonymous LP and I also saw Elio Volpini perform with FLEA ON THE ETNA in 2017 playing the music of FLEA ON THE HONEY, FLEA and ETNA, each one of the 70’s bands releasing just one album – I would subsequently buy a pre-loved copy of Flea’s Topi e uomini on vinyl. L'UOVO DI COLOMBO reformed in 2016 around the core of original member Elio Volpini and bassist Sabrina Scriva with Stefano Vicarelli on keyboards and Lucrezio De Seta on drums. The band released a new album last year, Schiavi del Tempo, which features new material and a couple of re-worked UdC pieces from the past, and the set also included material from Volpini’s deeper past, including the warm Mediterranean influenced jazz rock of Etna on its 50th anniversary, with Piero Fortezza having replaced drummer De Seta.


FURIO CHIRICO'S THE TRIP headlined on the Sunday. Chirico had replaced Pino Sinnone for the more progressive sounding concept album Atlantide, recorded and released by the trio of Vescovi, Andersen and Chirico in 1972 and though I probably don’t play the album as much, I prefer it to the blues-rock sound of Caronte. This trio would release one more album in 1973 and then dissolve after Chirico had left to form the jazzy Arti e Mestieri. My vinyl copy of Atlantide includes a recording of a 2011 concert in Japan as a second LP, a year after the trio reformed and is dedicated to Wegg Andersen who died in 2012. Before Vescovi died in 2014, he had asked Sinnone to continue with THE TRIP and an updated version of Caronte was released in 2021, Caronte 50 Years Later and was performed at the 2021 edition of the Porto Antico Prog Fest.
FURIO CHIRICO'S THE TRIP produced the album Equinox in 2022 and it was this album along with Atlantide that featured this year. Chirico was supported by Paolo ‘Silver’ Silvestri (who at one stage played his keyboards from behind his Hammond organ), Giuseppe ‘Gius’ Lanari (bass and lead vocals) and Marco Rostagno (guitar).

Aside from the music itself, the peripheral activities are also important to the success of a festival. Alongside organiser Black Widow Records’ selection of LPs and CDs, it was good to see a MaRaCash Records merchandise stall, representing ALIANTE, L’UOVO DI COLOMBO and THE TRIP, though the two albums I was most interested in, the first Aliante CD and Etna’s LP, weren’t released by MaRaCash! The perennial problem with the somewhat variable sound in the auditorium had been sorted out for the 2024 Prog Fest and was possibly even better this year, but one more important improvement for 2025 was the timekeeping of each act, strictly adhering to their allotted set times, helped by the interview techniques of Lind Dell and MAT2020's Athos Enrile.