Rock Progressivo Italiano

Rock progressivo italiano, usually shortened to RPI, is the Italian school of progressive rock that flourished between 1971 and the late 1970s. Italian bands absorbed the British symphonic model but sang in Italian, drew on classical, Baroque and Mediterranean folk sources, and favoured dramatic, theatrical arrangements for keyboards, flute and guitar. A dense national scene produced hundreds of albums, among them *Premiata Forneria Marconi*'s "Storia di un minuto", *Banco del Mutuo Soccorso*'s "Darwin!" and *Le Orme*'s "Felona e Sorona", before collapsing with the punk era and later becoming an international collector canon.