Muristek
‘It takes away my melancholy’: liscio, the glamorous Italian club scene for older people
This effervescent subculture has been struggling since the 90s, but a passionate group of diehard aficionados and musicians are determined to keep the party going
Vittorio Piovani is a barber in Traversetolo, a village in central Italy. Every Sunday, he dons an elegant suit, shines his shoes, curls his long moustache and goes dancing at a club in a nearby town, like many other weekend clubbers. Except Piovani is a 75-year-old grandfather of three, living for a scene that gives him a deep-rooted sense of community and belonging.
Piovani is a diehard fan of liscio, an Italian music genre and dancing scene, with dedicated venues called balere, and a fandom that is generally over 50 (more often, over 65). In its own way, it is a glamorous, wild and countercultural corner of European clubbing. The music is effervescent – with a lot of accordion – and the aesthetic is unmistakable: band members wear satin dresses and bell-bottom suits, with lots of shiny fabric and sequins; patrons dress up as if they were attending a wedding. “Liscio has everything: a bit of waltz, a bit of polka, a bit of tango and a bit of slow-dance,” Piovani says inside the club, Redas.
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