I Gatti di Vicolo Miracoli () was an Italian comedy and musical act. Formed in 1971, it originally consisted of

Jerry Calà Calogero Alessandro Augusto Calà, known by his stage name Jerry Calà (born 28 June 1951), is an Italian actor, filmmaker, comedian and singer who has written, directed, and acted in multiple film and television projects. He is considered one of ...

Umberto Smaila Umberto Smaila (born 26 June 1950) is an Italian actor, composer, comedian, television personality, entrepreneur, and musician. Born in Verona to an Istrian family, in the early-1970s Smaila co-founded together with Jerry Calà, Franco Oppini an ...

, Nini Salerno, Gianandrea Gazzola and Spray Mallory. Gazzola and Mallory left the group in 1975, and were replaced by Franco Oppini. A trio since 1981, the group disbanded in 1985.

History of the group

The group, consisting of some schoolmates, formed in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

in 1971 as a split from the 24 members ensamble "Studio 24", and the same year they started successfully performing at the

Derby Club Derby Club was a musical and comedy club located in Milan, Italy. The club was founded in the late 1950s by Gianni Bongioanni as a restaurant named "Gi-Go" in which live jazz music was occasionally played.Bassignano, Ernesto; Cantore, Lalla (1990 ...

in Milan, in some satirical and musical shows directed by mime and

Dario Fo Dario Luigi Angelo Fo (; 24 March 1926 – 13 October 2016) was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. I ...

's frequent collaborator Arturo Corso.Assante, Ernesto (1990). "Gatti di Vicolo Miracoli, I". Castaldo, Gino (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore. p. 456. In 1972, they released their first eponymous album. In 1975, Gazzola and Mallory left the group in 1975, and were replaced by Franco Oppini, who had already been an affiliate of the group in 1971; with this new line-up, the ensemble started to participate regularly in

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

variety shows, increasing their popularity. A major boost to their success came from their participation in 1977–8 in the

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

show ''Non Stop'', which launched the career of numerous comedians, notably

Massimo Troisi Massimo Troisi (; 19 February 1953 – 4 June 1994) was an Italian actor, cabaret performer, screenwriter, and film director. He is best known for his works in the films '' I'm Starting from Three'' (1981) and '' Il Postino: The Postman'' (1994) ...

Carlo Verdone Carlo Gregorio Verdone (born 17 November 1950) is an Italian actor, screenwriter and film director. Verdone is best known for his comedic roles in Italian classics, which he also wrote and directed. His career was jumpstarted by his first thre ...

and

Francesco Nuti Francesco Nuti (born 17 May 1955) is an Italian actor, film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Prato, Nuti began his professional career as an actor in the late 1970s, when he formed the cabaret group ''Giancattivi'' together with ...

.Grasso, Aldo; Scaglioni, Massimo (1996 – 2003). ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti. p. 480. . In 1979, the group had a major hit with the song "Capito?", which reached the fourth place on the Italian hit parade. They then starred in two comedy films directed by

Carlo Vanzina Carlo Vanzina (13 March 1951 – 8 July 2018) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. Vanzina was born in Rome, the son of Maria Teresa Nati and film director Stefano Vanzina and brother of Enrico Vanzina. In English-speaki ...

, the semi-autobiographical ''

Arrivano i gatti ''Arrivano i gatti'' () is a 1980 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Vanzina. Cast *Jerry Calà as Jerry *Franco Oppini as Franco *Nini Salerno as Nini *Umberto Smaila as Umberto *Bruno Lauzi as the supermarket's director * Orchidea De Santis a ...

'' and ''

Una vacanza bestiale ''Una vacanza bestiale'' () is a 1980 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Vanzina. Cast *Jerry Calà as Guido *Franco Oppini as Livio Zanon *Nini Salerno as Frustalupi *Umberto Smaila as Eros Castiglioni *Diego Abatantuono as Galeazzo *Teo Teoco ...

'', both released in 1980. Following the commercial success of his solo performance in ''

I fichissimi ''I fichissimi'' (Italian for "The really cool guys", also known as ''Guys and Dolls in the Suburbs'') is a 1981 Italian comedy film directed by Carlo Vanzina. The film consists in a story of rival punks in Milan and it is loosely based on the Will ...

'', in 1981 Calà left the group, and became one of the leading stars of the Italian film scene at the time. The group continued to perform as a trio for a few years, mainly working for

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

Fininvest Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest S.p.A., known as Fininvest S.p.A., is an Italian holding company controlled by the Berlusconi family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi. Structure The Fininvest group is co ...

, before splitting in 1985. Starting from Cala's 1997 film ''

Gli inaffidabili ''Gli inaffidabili'' () is a 1997 Italian comedy film directed by Jerry Calà Calogero Alessandro Augusto Calà, known by his stage name Jerry Calà (born 28 June 1951), is an Italian actor, filmmaker, comedian and singer who has written, directe ...

'', they occasionally reunited in the following years in films, on television and on stage.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Italian male film actors Italian male stage actors Italian television personalities Comedy troupes Italian pop music groups Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups disestablished in 1985