Amiche per l'Abruzzo

Amiche per l'Abruzzo concert on June 21, 2009 in Milan

Earthquake damage in the area of L'Aquila

Laura Pausini, Gianna Nannini, Giorgia, Elisa and Fiorella Mannoia sing the motto-giving piece Donna d'Onna together

Amiche per l'Abruzzo (German: Friends for Abruzzo) was a benefit concert that took place on June 21, 2009 in Milan . The proceeds went towards the reconstruction of the region in Abruzzo that was destroyed by the L'Aquila earthquake . The initiator was the musician Laura Pausini ; other sponsors of the event were Elisa , Gianna Nannini , Giorgia and Fiorella Mannoia . A key feature of the event was that the front acts were all women . Around 50 artists and around 55,000 visitors took part in the concert taking place in Milan's San Siro stadium . The amount brought in for the benefit was around 1.2 million euros. The concert was supported by accompanying activities such as radio and television broadcasts and a double DVD that documented the concert and was released the following year.

The concert

The initiator of the Amiche per l'Abruzzo concert was the singer Laura Pausini. The proceeds from the benefit event were intended to benefit the earthquake-damaged infrastructure around the city of L'Aquila . In April 2009, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 - flanked by a few fore and aft tremors - destroyed large parts of the city in the Abruzzo region and surrounding communities. According to official final data, the number of fatalities was 308, and that of those who became homeless was around 67,000. The singers Elisa, Gianna Nannini, Giorgia and Fiorella Mannoia acted as additional godmothers of the event. The concert took place in Milan's San Siro Stadium. Admission was from 2 p.m. The concert was split into two halves. The performances began at 3:40 pm; the second part, starting at 7.30 p.m., was broadcast live by some television stations.

Immediately the day before, another benefit concert in aid of earthquake relief in Abruzzo had taken place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome . Participating artists there were: Antonello Venditti , Ivano Fossati , Pino Daniele , Renato Zero , Claudio Baglioni and also Fiorella Mannoia. While the audience numbers at the concert in Rome were well below expectations, the concert in Milan was well attended with over 55,000 visitors; the newspaper La Repubblica characterized the event as a “successful party”. The following performers at the main concert appeared - in alphabetical order -: Alice , Alessandra Amoroso , Arisa , Malika Ayane , Rachele Bastreghi, Leda Battisti, Simona Bencini, Loredana Bertè , Laura Bono , Chiara Canzian, Rossana Casale, Caterina Caselli , Carmen Consoli , Aida Cooper, Cristina D'Avena , Grazia Di Michele , Dolcenera , Giusy Ferreri , Fiordaliso , Irene Fornaciari , Dori Ghezzi , Irene Grandi , Jo Squillo, Karima, La Pina, Patrizia Laquidara, L'Aura , Mietta , Milva , Andrea Mirò , Simona Molinari, Nada , Mariella Nava , Nicky Nicolai, Noemi , Anna Oxa , Paola & Chiara , Nilla Pizzi , Patty Pravo , Marina Rei, Donatella Rettore , Antonella Ruggiero , Senit , Spagna , Syria , Anna Tatangelo , Tosca , Paola Turci , Ornella Vanoni and Iva Zanicchi .

The theme song of the event was the piece Donna d'Onna - a song that focused on the town of Onna , which was hard hit by the earthquake , was written by Gianna Nannini in collaboration with the writer Isabella Santacroce and was jointly shared by the initiators during the concert was presented. The event itself was broadcast by various TV and radio stations - including Radio RAI , Radio 101, Radio 105, Radio Monte Carlo , Virgin Radio, Radio DeeJay , Radio Capital , M2O, Radio Kiss Kiss, RTL 102.5 , Radio Italia, RDS, Radio 24 , MTV Italia and MTV Mobile .

A year after the event, a double DVD with live recordings was released under the title Amiche Per L'Abruzzo . Publication label was Madraxa; Warner Music Italia took over the distribution .

Benefit proceeds

The focus of the benefit proceeds was the reconstruction of the primary school in the red zone. 80 percent of the proceeds went to this purpose. 20 percent went to non-profit organizations that helped set up a new community at the foot of the Gran Sasso . The surpluses from the DVD released the following year were intended to be used to create rooms for students at the University of L'Aquila. On the occasion of the financial and marketing-related processing of the event, there were disputes between the board of trustees of the organizers and the media involved - among other things due to the refusal of the state TV broadcaster RAI to advertise the DVD that was subsequently released. The planned delivery dates for some partial tranches of the collected benefit amount also caused bureaucratic problems.

According to the final report of the non-profit organization Progresso Advertising Foundation from 2010, the concert generated gross income of 1,516,500 euros. In addition, there was sponsorship income of 200,000 euros. By making the audio equipment available free of charge, switching free commercials , a 50 percent discount from the city of Milan for advertising posters and other discounts, expenses could be kept comparatively low. The around 50 musicians and singers involved in the concert received an expense allowance of 1000 euros per person. The net income of the concert amounted to 1183,406 euros. 946,725 euros went to the municipality of L'Aquila for the new building of the Edmondo de Amicis primary school , and 236,681 euros to the ONLUS association.

According to the news channel tgcom24 , the double DVD, which was also sold via magazine kiosks , had sold around 350,000 copies by spring 2011, generating a further 1.9 million euros in donations.