The birth of the band of Piedmont, whose name is borrowed from a short article originated in a newspaper regarding a brothel to be closed, is to be found just before the mid-'70s.A trio of musicians composed by Oscar Mazzoglio ( keyboards), Luciano Boero (bass) and Giorgio Gardino (drums), after the dissolution of a R&B group operating in the Asti area, the "Sound & Music", decided to found a rock-pop, in order to play in the dance halls, for fun and, overall , in order to share the common passion for music. The repertoire ranges from the cover of rock legends such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, etc.. The band then began to be refined by adding in its own small staff of talented three other elements: the guitarist Alberto Gaviglio, Ezio Vevey (vocals and guitar) and Michele Conta, exquisitely talented pianist, fresh from the conservatory. The band first broadens its horizons to cover the most celebrated and famous myths of Progressive (King Crimson, Genesis, Yes), then realizes that they have sufficient numbers to groped their own path. Having stopped the gigs, the band closes in their rehearsal room for a year and devoted themselves to composing and arranging what would later become his undisputed masterpiece, "Forse le lucciole non si amano più."
Last but not least, Leonardo Sasso joins the party (from the Roman formation "Le Esperienze", from which will emerge later "Il Banco del Mutuo Soccorso"), whose prodigious voice will complete the process and will feature music of Locanda delle Fate. After months and months of hard work and having reached a perfect mix all togheter, they send a demo tape to some Majors hoping to have the famous stroke of luck. That's what happens when the precious parcel falls into the hands of Giorgio Calabrese, author and Rai conductor of a weekly program dedicated to discovering new talent: Locanda delle Fate is summoned to Rome, where in three days in the study 2 of Via Teulada records a half-hour live gig with most of the songs that will later be registered on the future albums (on air in January 1976). Meanwhile, the demo hits two sensitive and competent as Liliana Azzolini and Nico Papathanassiou, brother of the more famous Evanghelo Papathanassiou, alias Vangelis. They are literally fascinated by the superb music offered by the team of Piedmont to the point that Nico decides to personally produce the debut album. Summoned to studies of Phonogram in Milan, in less than thirty days they recorded the amazing "Forse le lucciole non si amano più" ("Maybe the fireflies don't love each other anymore", released in June 1977), considered one of the best albums of Italian progressive rock, that has nothing to deface absolutely with other well-known and most celebrated foreign productions. The delicate and evocative cover by Biagio Cairone and then the illustrator Anna Montecroci, leads us into a magical world of sounds and colors where the excellent arrangements affected unequivocally influences of classical pianist Michele Conta.
The imaginative passages reminds us the delicate and surreal images of early Genesis ("Trespass" and "Nursery Cryme" at all), some lush phrasing characterized by sudden and compelling cuts are typical of the sound structures of Gentle Giant, while the use simultaneous dual keyboard and the presence of a singer with a so powerful voice refer to the experiences of the Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. But one thing is copying, plagiarizing, other is inspiring to the common musical spirit and then evolve a their own way , refining it in a intelligent way. In this connection it seems appropriate to quote some excerpts from an interview given by the group to the journalist Luigi Romagnoli "... Do not forget that before we were composers and creators for a long time we used to listen, repeat and perform music of other groups, and on this we formed tastes and orientations in the creative act; this cannot be forgotten or erased with a sponge. However we were searching for a new line that, while respecting the Italian melody, if we want to call it in this way, has created differentiation and originality of expression especially in the arrangements, in certain rhythms and lyrics-solutions ... ".
The album not only received wide acclaim from critics but also gets reflected in sales certainly positive and encouraging, to the point that for several weeks it appears in the top chart of the magazine "TV Sorrisi e Canzoni". Then the band partecipate to a promotional tour for the album called"... Phonogram mania" , organized by Phonogram with many other bigs (Amanda Lear, Ronnie Jones, Walter Foini, Renato Brioschi, Panda, Leano Morelli, etc..). But the advance of Punk and Disco Music of the above leads to an increasingly strong disinterest of the public towards the bands of Progressive Rock, for which the record company asked the group to review the brave musical choices undertaken so far, giving up the special effects sound, with surreal lyrics in favor of a musical certainly more simplistic and commercial. The new course is done through the creation in 1978, again for Polydor, reduced to a quintet with the single "New York / Nove Lune", very melodic yet tasteful, but that absolutely does not have the strength and evocative power of the songs of the previous albums. The 45 is followed by the publication of the mini-LP "New York", used mainly for radio promotion. The components of the Locanda delle Fate, given the limited evidence of sales and then disappointed by the fact that they could no longer express their real musical vein, decide to close Locanda and abandon the music scene. Only a few years later some of them meet again, this time under the name of "La Locanda", releasing for the label Ri-Fi the almost unknown"Annalisa / Volare un po' più in alto.”
In the late eighties and early nineties, the Italian progressive begins to regain its own public and in 1993 is published a live recording of the Locanda delle Fate, "Locanda live", taken from a live gig of 1977 (Mellow Records). At the same time, the group began to consider the possibility of triggering a "reunion". In 1999 they published the second album of Locanda delle Fate, Homo Homini Lupus. The formation, however, is not the same as the '77 (the singer Leonardo Sasso is missing and the keyboardist Michele Conta appears only in one song). The album is quite popular although considered inferior to the previous year.
On 17 July 2010 the reunion: the Locanda delle Fate has performed in Asti at the festival in "Asti Musica", with the new line up since April 2010, with the founding members Giorgio Gardino on drums, Luciano Boero on bass, Oscar Mazzoglio on keyboards and Leonardo Sasso vocals, with the addition of Max Brignolo on electric guitar and Maurizio Muha on piano and minimoog. www.locandadellefate.com
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