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‘I was stunned’: man claims Florence karaoke bar banned Neapolitan song


Enraged customer’s video triggers social media debate over linguistic and cultural discrimination in Italy

Pasquale Abbatiello, a 26-year-old PhD student from Benevento in the southern Campania region, was in the Tuscan capital with friends on New Year’s Day when they decided to toast 2025 with drinks and karaoke at a bar in the centre. Recounting the episode in a video that was widely shared on social media, Abbatiello said that all kinds of tunes were being performed in a variety of languages, from Italian classics and American songs to the latest hits. Abbatiello had wanted to sing Tu Si a Fine do’ Munno, a hit by Angelo Famao, a newcomer to neomelodic, a music genre that originates in Naples and combines elements of traditional Neapolitan song, for example O Sole Mio, with modern pop.

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