Marco Pannella's artist allies: from Vasco Rossi to Piero Dorazio

Marco Pannella, the deceased head of the Italian Radical Party, maintained strong relationships with various artists. Vasco Rossi reminisced about Pannella's desire for him to run as a candidate, viewing Pannella as his alter ego. Rossi, who was just three years old when the party was established, later embraced its principles of tolerance, anticlericalism, and antiprohibitionism. Francesco De Gregori, who honored Pannella with the song "Il Signor Hood," recalled a conversation during one of Pannella's hunger strikes, where Pannella reassured him, saying, "don't worry, take care of it." Piero Dorazio, a visual artist who closely collaborated with Pannella, ran for the Radical Party from 1992 to 2001, participated in a hunger strike for Radio Radicale in 1998, and co-founded Nessuno Tocchi Caino. He, along with Gillo Dorfles, advocated for Pannella's nomination as EU Commissioner, with support from artists like Fabio Mauri, Enrico Benaglia, and singers such as Eugenio Bennato and Fabrizio De André. An additional appeal from then-Florence mayor Matteo Renzi and cartoonist Sergio Staino urged Pannella to conclude a hunger strike concerning prison conditions. In 1991, photographer Ferdinando Scianna captured Pannella in a notable Magnum photo.