Italian singer-songwriter Gino Paoli dies at 91

Among his best-loved songs are “Quattro Amici” and “La Gatta”

Photo: Instagram

Gino Paoli, the singer‑songwriter who helped reshape Italian popular music in the 1960s with poetic, introspective songs such as "Il cielo in una stanza" (The sky in a room) and "Sapore di sale" (The taste of salt) has died at 91, his family said on Tuesday.

Paoli was a central figure in a school of songwriters from the northern Italian city of Genoa, alongside Fabrizio De Andre and Luigi Tenco, who brought literary ambition and emotional realism to Italian pop music in the post‑war era.

In a career spanning more than six decades, Paoli remained an influential presence in Italian music well into old age, with many of his enduring songs recorded by other artists including Ornella Vanoni, with whom he had an intense love affair.

Known for his understated delivery and reflective lyrics, among the best-loved numbers he performed himself were "Quattro Amici" (Four Friends) and "La Gatta" (The cat).

Prone to depression, in 1963, shortly after writing "Sapore di sale," Paoli shot himself in the chest but the suicide attempt failed and the bullet lodged in the pericardium membrane that surrounds the heart.

"I wasn't enjoying myself anymore," he said in a 2022 interview with daily Corriere della Sera. "Seeing as I enjoyed myself a lot afterwards it's a good thing that it went wrong."