Giorgio Verdelli

Paolo Conte is one of the greatest exponents of provincial culture in the world. His visual songs form an imaginary atlas of the soul, a compendium of sound and poetry. Often they are like short films, capable of taking on a life of their own, for Conte carries you away and enchants you with his variety show. Paolo Conte, Via con me tells the almost fifty-year-long story of an eclectic figure. An imaginary journey, an interweaving of poetry and music through the songs, concerts, friends and reflections of the singer. Verdelli has drawn on the immense stock of material in Conte’s personal archives, combining it with footage shot for the purpose: interviews, films of international tours and other occasions in a unique career. Through these images, the docufilm ventures into the labyrinth of his songs, including the ones he has written for a wide range of performers (Adriano Celentano, Enzo Jannacci, Jane Birkin, Caterina Caselli, Bruno Lauzi), and that of his passions (jazz, puzzles, painting, law, the movies) in a continual exploration of the familiar and the unfamiliar, of the stories, verses and songs of that extraordinary elsewhere which is the world of Paolo Conte.