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biografia

Carlo’s entry in the artistic world took place when started taking his first guitar lessons at the age of 12.
Greatly attracted by various rhythms, after two years he went from guitar to percussion, playing the drums for over 10 years in many bands.

When he turned 18 he travelled to the USA and met one of his relatives,
Patrick Martin, in San Francisco.

Patrick was a successful magician in California, and Carlo closely followed these shows, enchanted by the art of illusion and manipulation.

After returning to Italy, Carlo continued to perform as a drummer, but at the same time began studying the art of manipulation, developing his own show based on hands and their ability to create illusions.

Always in search of original ideas, he started devoting much of his time to the art of shadows created by the hands. The great evocative power of this art fascinated him and inspired him artistically to such a point that he began searching for a way of reinventing and totally updating this ancient form of entertainment.

This led him to personally develop a new technique to create, using just his bare hands, incredible silhouettes of human faces that belong to well-known personalities, recognisable to everyone.

This allows the audience to be surprised and enjoy seeing these familiar profiles “magically” appear thanks to Carlo’s great dexterity. The idea of creating a shadow show even more exciting and complete led Carlo to plan a four-hands show and thus began his collaboration with Simona.

While this artistic activity was getting underway, Carlo and Simona carried on with their schooling. After graduating from high school, Carlo enrolled at the University of Parma to study veterinary sciences so he could follow his lifelong passion for animals. Simona went to the same university, but chose to delve into and further develop her profound interest in social studies and humanities.

Throughout their university years they continued to perform their four-hands shadow show in public and in 1990 a major artistic turning point changed the course of their lives. Carlo and Simona were brought to the attention of Pippo Baudo, a famous presenter for “Rai” TV, who also creates and stars in the spectacular variety shows he produces for Italian television.

Pippo Baudo always strives to combine quality with entertainment, so he gave Carlo and Simona the opportunity to make their television debut in a Rai 1 programme called “Gran Premio” (Grand Prize).
This early evening television show was a talent competition for young artistes from all over Italy. Carlo and Simona’s performance turned out to be the highest voted and most appreciated of the evening by the show’s jury and garnered a rating of more than 11 million viewers.

Television shows with Pippo Baudo soon became more and more frequent and the demand for these unique shadow shows increased both in Italy and abroad. From 1990 to the present this has become their way of life. Their talent and originality have enabled them to perform on many television programmes and in theatres throughout Europe, Asia and America.
Their manual dexterity is equivalent to that of a virtuoso musician who has a total dedication to the instrument he plays. With their hands, they study chords, new positions, and harmonious silhouettes and for this reason they are called “Musicians of Light”. The lasting impression one gets from watching their show is of having seen light being “played” in a most magical fashion.

On the international stage today Carlo and Simona are considered the most prominent and extraordinary interpreters of this ancient art, which they have completely renewed and reintroduced in a modern way. Thanks to the unique advanced technology they use, they are able to project enormous images created with their hands onto building facades as well as cinema screens large enough for thousands of people to enjoy them.