Lucio Battisti was born 80 years ago, the day after Lucio Dalla, an example of a generation that changed the world through music. An offbeat genius, he expanded the boundaries of Italian song, measuring himself with the creative approach and experimentation of the greats of international music by opening the doors of contamination with rock, black music, up to disco, Latin music, and electronics.

Battisti built his legend on his music of visionary talent and its absence: he detested the drifts of stardom, advertising, and the rituals of communication. The Lucio Battisti who made history is the one from the period with Mogol, the lyricist with whom he signed the songs that brought him into myth and with whom he formed an artistically perfect partnership that, with its ups and downs, became part of the myth.

The journey from his debut album, Lucio Battisti, to the latest title in his discography is the journey of an artist and a man who has always been uncomfortable with notoriety, convinced that those who make music should be judged solely by what they write and sing. His natural aversion to the mechanisms of the market and the media and progressive reservations about the possibility of reproducing live the sounds obtained in the recording studio conditioned his relationship with live performances, despite the fact that he was an extraordinary performer as evidenced by a number of television appearances, in particular the 1972 duet with Mina on Studio 10, which remains one of the most moving pages in the history of Italian TV.

Battisti stopped touring in 1970: he ended his ties with television on April 23, 1972, with the duet with Mina, a few months later he bade farewell to radio, and in 1979 he gave his last interview. He effectively ran away from fame and success.

But his songs remain in the history of Italian music, immortal and wonderful, yesterday as well as today and tomorrow.