Santino Spinelli


Santino Spinelli, also known professionally as Alexian, is an Italian Romani musician, composer and teacher.

Biography

Spinelli is the youngest of six children, the only brother among five sisters. He was born in Pietrasanta, in the province of Lucca, on July 21, 1964, the son of Gennaro and Giulia Spinelli. However, it was in Lanciano, in the province of Chieti, where he began his early studies. He attended the State Trade Institute P. De Giorgio and earned two degrees from the University of Bologna, the first in Foreign Languages and Literature and the second in Musicology. He has been Professor of the Romani Language and Culture at the University of Chieti since 2008.
Spinelli is the founder and president of the cultural association Thèm Romano. In 2001 he was elected sole representative for Italy at the parliament of the International Romani Union, a nongovernmental organization based in Latvia and active in the field of Roma people's rights. He is actually Vice President of IRU. In 2002 Spinelli taught the Romani language and culture at the University of Trieste, and later at the Polytechnic University of Turin. In 2003 the IRU Parliament appointed him Ambassador of Romani Culture and Art throughout the world, and in 2007 he was appointed Vice President of the IRU. He is the national president of the federation FederArteRom and UCRI spokesman.
Spinelli's poem "Auschwitz" is engraved on a memorial to the Sinti and Roma people killed during the Nazi period. The memorial is near the Bundestag in Berlin. He had a similar memorial built in Lanciano, in the piazzale Edith Stein. It was sculpted from Majella stone by sculptor Tonino Santeusanio.
In 2010 he published the "Carovana Romanì" for accordion, ensemble and orchestra through Ut Orpheus of Bologna. The collection contains scores composed by Spinelli that were performed at the seat of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the Council of the European Union in Brussels. On June 2, 2012, he sang the Murdevele in Milan for Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of the World Meeting of Families.
On 26 October 2015, with the Alexian Group, he performed several of his compositions, including Murdevele, for Pope Francis.
On April 18, 2016, Mayor Ing. Gianfranco Lopane of Taranto conferred honorary citizenship on Spinelli. In May 2018 he was awarded the silver medal and the Diploma of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George on the occasion of the tricentenary of the Ecclesiastical Bull of Pope Clement XI.
On February 4, 2020, President Mattarella awarded him the honor of Commander of the Order Merit of the Italian Republic.
On April 10, 2024, he performed as a soloist at Teatro alla Scala in Milan together with his son Gennaro Spinelli, soloists from the ANPI Section of Teatro alla Scala, and soloists from the Rossini Orchestra of Pesaro, as part of the celebrations for International Romani Day.
On April 4, 2025, he performed as a soloist at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, again with his son Gennaro Spinelli, soloists from Teatro San Carlo, and soloists from the Rossini Orchestra of Pesaro, for the celebrations of International Romani Day.
During the 2024/2025 academic year, he taught the Romani Language and Culture course at La Sapienza University of Rome.

Publications

Poems
  • Gilì Romanì, Lacio Drom
  • Romanipé, Solfanelli
  • O Romano Gi!, Edizioni Romanì
  • Gili tro gi Edizioni Tracce
Essays and other writings
  • Prin©karang - Conosciamoci, incontro con la tradizione dei Rom Abruzzesi
  • Baxtaló Divès
  • Baro Romano Drom - la Lunga strada dei Rom, Sinti, Kalé, Manouches e Romanichals
  • "Carovana Romanì" - Ut Orpheus, Bologna, 2010
  • "Carovana Romanì" - Ut Orpheus, Bologna, 2010
  • "Carovana Romanì" - Ut Orpheus, Bologna, 2010Rom, Genti Libere - with a preface by Moni Ovadia, Dalai Editore, Milano, 2012
  • Romanò Bravalipé, the heritage of a people Rom, Questi Sconosciuti - with a preface by Moni Ovadia, Mimesis Edizioni, Milano, 2016
  • Una Comunità da Conoscere con prefazione di Pino Nicotri
  • Le verità negate con prefazione di Paola Severini Melograni
Discography
  • Iperfisa
  • Jilò Romanò/Speranza
  • Soft Jazz Fisa
  • Gilì Romanì
  • Gijem Gijem
  • 'orizzonte e la memoria
  • Putraddipé
  • Tsigane
  • Dromos
  • Romano Drom - Carovana romaní
  • Mille Papaveri Rossi
  • Khamoro
  • Parovibbé/Metamorfosi
  • So me sinom/Ciò che sono
  • Tribù Italiche: Abruzzo
  • Sulla Memoria
  • Uno specchio per Alice
  • Andrè mirò Romano Gi, viaggio nella mia anima Rom
  • Romano Thèm - Orizzonti Rom
  • Me pase ko Murdevele - Io ac-Canto a Dio
  • CD Porrajmos, parole in musica di F. Parente, M. Parisini, L. Ricciardi, 2010)
  • Romano Simcha, La festa ebraico-rom
  • Storie Romane/Giravolte, di Carola Spadoni
  • Fiori di Campo, di Carlo Rota
  • Baro Romanò Drom, di Gioia Meloni
  • Uno specchio per Alice, di Gianni Di Claudio
  • Il Giudizio Universale, di Luca Kerstic
  • Il Diavolo inventò la vanga, di Gianni Di Claudio
  • Porrajmos, parole in musica, di F. Parente, M. Parisini, L. Ricciardi
  • Romanistan, di L. Vitone
Theatre
  • Duj Furàt Mulò, dramma teatrale
  • Diversamente…Orgia di Pier Paolo Pasolini, a cura di Sivio Sarta