Olly’s Genoa
Genoa and surroundings
Olly, winner of the 75th Sanremo Festival, and his happy places in Genoa
“Balorda nostalgia“, the song with which Olly won the 2025 Sanremo Festival, talks in some ways about its composer’s native city, Genoa. Olly, a.k.a. Federico Olivieri, born in Genoa on 5 May 2001, was one of the youngest participants at the 75th Sanremo Festival. He took his first steps in the world of music in Genoa’s Paganini Conservatory in 2014, and in 2023 he participated in the 73rd Sanremo Festival with the song “Polvere” (finishing 24th), which soon went platinum. His first album, “Gira, il mondo gira“, ranked 13th in the charts and sold more than 50,000 copies.
The Foce district
Olly grew up in Foce, one of Genoa's leading residential neighbourhoods, situated close to Corso Italia and the Genova Trade Fair, where the Bisagno river flows into the sea. This constantly evolving district, rising between Piazza Rossetti and Piazzale Kennedy, with its multifaceted styles, ambiences and identities, offers a mixture of Umbertino, Art Nouveau and rationalist architecture, as well as the innovative Waterfront di Levante by Renzo Piano. If you have ever been or intend to come to Genoa for the Boat Show or Euroflora, the Foce will lie on your way. And yet, despite being a large residential and exhibition district, 'Foxe' – as it is known in the Genoese dialect – has its own poetry. Indeed, this is the perfect place for a walk, for watching the sun set from the rocks at Punta Vagno, and for seaside summer romances. "It's a good thing there's the sea / That leads every thought / To mix with the sky" as Olly himself sings in one of his songs.
South Stand
Olly makes no secret of supporting Sampdoria. One of the places that inspire him the most is undoubtedly the South Stand at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, where Sampdoria fans gather for each home game. Before the Sanremo final, Olly declared that he would rather see Sampdoria in the Serie A football league than win Sanremo. In the meantime, while the team awaits its return to Serie A, the South Stand will undoubtedly have cheered Olly on, and he repaid them with an outstanding success. For now, visitors to the stadium will hear "Balorda nostalgia" being intoned from the sidelines, but there are those who expect Olly to compose an anthem for his favourite team...
The Carlini Stadium
Being tall and sturdy, Olly is physically suited to rugby. Up to the age of 18, before choosing a career in music, he trained with Cus Genova at the Carlini Stadium. This is the temple of Genoese rugby. Construction began in 1912, and the stadium was finally inaugurated on 26 November 1927 with an international exhibition of athletics and motor sports competitions. Indeed, the facility also hosts a historic cycling and motorcycling velodrome—the only one in Liguria and one of the few in Italy. Initially known as Stadio della Nafta, it was later named after the Genoese hurdler Giacomo Carlini, and in 2021 the name of rugby player Marco Bollesan was also added. Today, the stadium hosts CUS Genova Rugby matches.
Piazza delle Erbe
"The lady over there on the fourth floor told me / a cigarette in her mouth as she hung out the laundry" sings Olly, in "Balorda nostalgia".
The lady on the fourth flour, Olly has revealed, overlooks Piazza delle Erbe, the centre of Genoese nightlife, where he and his friends hang out. In this atmosphere of celebration, music and merriment, among the alleyways – or caruggi – dotted between Piazza delle Erbe and the Luzzati Gardens, a new school of Genoese singer-songwriters is being born: Olly, Bresh, Alfa, and who knows how many other young musicians, ready to bowl us over with their creativity.
I vicoli e la musica
>A few years ago, perhaps just a handful of people would gather in one of the many live music venues in the city's alleyways to listen to this big guy trying his hand at rap. And yet, after Fabrizio De André, Bruno Lauzi, Gino Paoli and so on, the alleyways of Genoa are continuing to create artists to this day. Who would have thought that one day Olly would triumph in Sanremo and perhaps appear on to the Eurovision Song Contest? In the caruggi, the right word, in these cases, is 'maniman': an expression in Genoese dialect that cannot be translated literally, and is used when wishing for something to happen (or not happen). So, why not pop down the alleyways around Via Canneto il Lungo? Maniman you will find Olly singing "Balorda nostalgia"!
