An older generation keeps liscio flame alive

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 die hard fan of liscio, an Italian music genre and dancing scene, with dedicated venues called  and devotees who are skewed heavily towards the over-65s). In its own way, it is a wild and counter cultural corner of European clubbing. The music is effervescent – with a lot of accordion – and the aesthetic is glamorous: band members wear satin dresses and bellbottom suits, with lots of sequins; patrons dress up. “Liscio has everything: a bit of waltz, a bit of polka, a bit of tango and a bit of slow-dance,” Piovani said inside the club, Redas.