La Piazza Dario

Italy is famed for its succulent meals, its Shakespearean settings, its musical operas and its singing friars?!

Today's musical spotlight is on this young friar, Friar Alessandro. Opera lovers, you're going to like the sounds of this gentle fellow...

At the tender age of nine, he knew music would be a lifelong passion:

"I started to study music when I was nine. I listened to a recording of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, and I was amazed. And from that time I decided inside of me to be an organist and composer. I was just nine but this was really my dream!"

Singing wasn't always his musical direction of choice but at the age of 19, he began to focus on developing his voice, practising scales, vocalizing and breathing exercises. It was not long after he began his spiritual journey to join the Order of Friars Minor in Assisi.

Learn more about his story through his interview with Italia! and enjoy the sound of his operatic notes...