Beppe Maniglia, the soundtrack of the square
An electric guitar, a motorbike parked by the Neptune fountain and hot-water bottles blown up until they burst. A street legend.
Generations of Bolognese have seen and heard him: a muscular man with an electric guitar, an amplifier, a motorbike parked between Piazza Maggiore and Piazza del Nettuno, and his tapes for sale. His real name is Giuseppe Fuggi; to everyone he is Beppe Maniglia.
The hot-water bottle trick
His most famous feat wasn’t musical: he would inflate hot-water bottles by blowing into them until they burst like balloons. Children watched open-mouthed – and so did the grown-ups.
A character fit for a novel
His western-flavoured, very 1980s guitar was the background music of the city centre for decades. No wonder he ended up in fiction: in the TV series about Inspector Coliandro, set in Bologna, the hero wonders why Beppe Maniglia never became one of the most famous guitarists in the world. One of life’s mysteries.
All sorts of legends have grown up around him, passed down in the city’s bars. Like every true local character, Maniglia belongs a little to the whole city.
Do you have a memory or a photo of Beppe Maniglia in the square? Tell us about it.
Take a piece of this story home
Lucio Dalla records
From “Piazza Grande” to “Caruso”: on vinyl for the nostalgic, on CD for the car.
View on AmazonBolognese dialect dictionary
To finally understand what the umarell said to you at the building site.
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