Giovanni Caccamo

A singer-songwriter discovered by Franco Battiato.
One of the leading acts at the Sanremo Festival in the ‘Big’ category in 2016 and 2018. Winner of the ‘Newcomers’ category, the Mia Martini Critics’ Award, the Lucio Dalla Press Award and the E. Luzzati Award in 2015. He has collaborated with Willem Dafoe, Andrea Bocelli, Patti Smith, Lang Lang, Antony and the Johnsons, Franco Battiato, Elisa, Patty Pravo, Liliana Segre, Michele Placido, Carmen Consoli, Malika Ayane, Matteo Bocelli, Emma, Elodie, Francesca Michielin and many other Italian and international artists.

In September 2015, he lent his voice to the Disney Pixar short film Lava, a prelude to the film Inside Out, in a duet with the singer Malika Ayane. In 2016, he co-hosted the Radio2 programme Nessuno mi può giudicare with Caterina Caselli. On 10 November of the same year, Dialogo con mia madre, Giovanni’s first epistolary novel, was published by Rizzoli. On 14 January 2017, he was appointed UNESCO Youth Ambassador.

On 9 February 2018, following his participation in the 68th edition of the Sanremo Festival with the song Eterno and the success of Puoi fidarti di me, the main theme song from the soundtrack of Alessandro Genovesi’s film Puoi baciare lo sposo, his third album was released. To date, the single Eterno has surpassed 10 million views and 5 million streams.
On 6 October 2018, he sang for Pope Francis during the Synod on Young People.

On 26 April 2020, he represented Italy at the Pathway to Paris: Earth Day 50 festival, alongside Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Johnny Depp, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Harper and others. The concert, organised by Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

On 17 September 2021, Parola, his fourth album of new material, was released, featuring special guest appearances by Willem Dafoe, Aleida Guevara, Patti Smith, Liliana Segre, Michele Placido, Beppe Fiorello and a recording by Camilleri. The album ranked third in the ‘Best Album of All Time’ category at the 2022 Targhe Tenco awards.
On 21 December 2022, he created L’Agorà del cambiamento, an artistic performance held in the Stanza della Segnatura within the Vatican Museums, beneath Raphael’s famous painting The School of Athens, in which fifteen young people, representing the thousands of participants in the Parola ai giovani project, shared their vision of the future. The photographic reportage of the performance was curated by Marco Anelli, Marina Abramovic’s long-standing photographer.

Since 2023, he has been the artistic director of the cultural programme at the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation. On 12 May 2023, he published Manifesto del cambiamento, published by Treccani, with an extraordinary foreword by Pope Francis; a volume in which sixty young people sketch out an evolving future. It features twelve previously unpublished works by Arnaldo Pomodoro, Emilio Isgrò, Fabrizio Plessi, Ferdinando Scianna, Francesca Cataldi, Giulia Napoleone, Guido Strazza, Mario Ceroli, Maurizio Cattelan, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mimmo Jodice and Mimmo Paladino.