Passing of Ernesto Assante, Renowned Music Critic and Journalist

Ernesto Assante's Sanremo 2024 report cards have always been a reference point for all the insiders and fans of the festival. His rock lessons, with his longtime partner Gino Castaldo, offered a mix of history, archive videos, contemporary look, competence and irony. His lifelong passions, music and technology. Ernesto Assante, a historic signature of Repubblica, journalist, musicologist, blogger, careful and refined critic, died tonight in Rome. He had turned 66 a few days ago, on February 12. Last night - writes the Repubblica website - he was struck by a stroke: he was immediately hospitalized, but the treatments proved useless. He leaves his wife, Eleonora, and two daughters. Born in Naples in 1958, after starting in radio, from the first Roman rock stations to Radio 1 and Sterenotte, and the experience as a music critic of the Manifesto, in 1979 Assante arrived at Repubblica, where he was a music critic and then editor-in-chief, inventor of the weekly Musica, creator of Computer Valley and Computer, Internet and Other and director of McLink and Kataweb. Career He also collaborated with weekly magazines such as Epoca, L'Espresso, Rolling Stone and recently with Rockol. He edited some entries related to pop and rock for Treccani. On TV he was a musical consultant for Domenica In, Orecchiocchio, Doc and author of Sanremo Rock and Cantagiro; he also collaborated on Rai programs such as L'importante è avere un piano with Stefano Bollani, Una storia da cantare with Enrico Ruggeri and Bianca Guaccero and Ci vuole un fiore with Francesco Gabbani and Francesca Fialdini. He signed the first edition of Pavarotti & Friends in 1992 and numerous shows with Fabrizio Frizzi, Eleonora Brigliadori, Renzo Arbore, Milly Carlucci, Elisabetta Gardini, Loretta Goggi. He created, as creator and author, seven editions of the Italian Music Award for Italia 1 conducted by Serena Dandini and Linus. Since 2013 he has been the creator, author and host, with Gino Castaldo, of Webnotte, a live online broadcast on Repubblica.it and on Facebook and on Radio Capital Tv. He curated On the Road, an exhibition dedicated to Jack Kerouac, with the display of the original manuscript of the book, in the Auditorium Arte space in Rome; Digital Music Experience at the MAXXI in Rome; Lucio Dalla, images and sounds at the Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome; 1969, words, music, images in the Auditorium Arte space in Rome. Numerous essays he signed, some of which in pairs with Castaldo, with whom since 2005 he held the famous Rock Lessons. Journey to the center of music: the most recent ones came out last year, Bruce Springsteen - The Boss in words and images (White Star), and Lucio Battisti (Mondadori), a biography of the brilliant author of "Emotions" who last March 5 would have turned 80 years old. From 2003 to 2009 Assante taught Theory and technique of new media and then Analysis of musical languages at the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Sapienza University in Rome.