A fixture in Italian electronic music and nightlife, DJ, producer, and vocalist Protopapa was born in Salento and came of age in Bologna’s welcoming and hedonistic creative scene, which whisked him away from completing his university degree to the bright lights of Milan, Italy’s cultural capital. More than a decade later, he’s put his own mark on Milan nightlife, throwing parties and as an in-demand guest, with repeat sets at Rollover DJ’s lauded funky dance events, a two-year residency at Le Cannibale, the city’s biggest underground party for house and techno, and over five years of artistic direction and resident DJing at q|Lab and Club Q21, an underground queer space that, when he joined up, was in the then-gritty but now chic NoLo neighborhood.
Protopapa has also embraced Milan’s most well known industry, designing sounds for fashion shows and DJing at official Milan Fashion Week events for Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, ETRO, YSL, Versace and Dior. He’s also played Paris Fashion Week, DJing at Silencio, Le Georges, and Club Paradisio for official PFW after-parties. A sonic sponge who absorbs tracks from all genres and puts them together to create a perfect atmosphere, Protopapa trained as a B2B DJ with friends, then evolved to warming up for the likes of Nicolas Jaar, Tom Trago, Bottin, Planningtorock, Miss Kittin, Siriusmo, Nathan Fake, Cormac, Sonikku, Horse Meat Disco and many more.
His own production work has seen him collaborating with Hey Cabrera! and Emmanuelle, with his track “Ça va? Je T’aime!” hitting one million streams on Spotify—and every radio station in Italy—as the song of the summer in 2022. In June of 2023, he released his second single “Caramella Caramella,”followed by a 40-date European tour where blended his signature DJ style with an exciting new live PA. His debut album, packed with exciting collaborations while maintaining the fun and funky bedrock of those singles, is slated for release in fall of 2025.
Protopapa has also produced official remixes for Italian legends Raffaella Carrà, Ricchi e Poveri, and Loredana Berté—the Italian equivalent of remixing Cher, ABBA, and Madonna in the span of one year—as well as Ornella Vanoni.
Every summer, he returns to his roots with a series of parties near his hometown in southern Italy, curated alongside acclaimed producer Populous. From 2020 to 2023, he was the creative director of Masseria Wave, a revolutionary cultural project of musical and queer-inclusive tourism in Salento (South Italy) and his latest project is creative direction for FLUIDOSTUDIO, a record label and audiovisual production company that he shares with Pierpaolo “ilromantico” Moschino. With FLUIDOSTUDIO, Protopapa has launched artists like David Blank, Vergo, and boyrebecca, SARABAMBA, Valentino Vivace, releasing over a hundred tracks in five years. However, his main passion continues to be creating a new generation of Italo disco and Italo disco-adjacent music and continuing to perform playful and genre-expansive DJ sets and live PAs around Italy, Europe, and beyond. He’s now working on his first album and a world tour: HOUSE OF PROTOPAPA