Gino Paoli, the great passion of a legend: "cars and I, a long love story." By Guido Andruetto on October 02, 2024.
Gino Paoli in a car with Stefania Sandrelli in the 1960s. "If I love a woman, it's for life: the reasons I loved her remain, the beauty endures. Why stop just because we no longer sleep together?" Gino Paoli had an intense and tormented love life, marked by famous and passionate love affairs. Key figures were Ornella Vanoni, with whom he had a passionate relationship in the 1960s and actress Stefania Sandrelli, with whom he had his daughter Amanda in 1964. Since 1991, he had been married to Paola Penzo, the mother of his youngest children.
Genoa. Bringing the sky into a car, flooding it with light, is a challenge that one of his dearest friends, architect Renzo Piano, a fellow Genoese, might succeed in mastering. Gino Paoli, a car enthusiast, is probably thinking of the glass and steel Biosfera in the Porto Antico, or the Bolla on the former Fiat test track. Gino Paoli dreams of the sky in a cockpit, rather than a room. It could be a gift for his recently celebrated 90th birthday, which his family is celebrating. A legend of Italian music, author of pop masterpieces such as ‘Senza fine,’ ‘Che cosa c'è’ and ‘Sapore di sale’, he still loves cars. He has "collected" many of them since the 1960s, when he signed his first major record deal, because before that day, despite having a driving license, "my father had never let me drive his car, he never even let me touch it", he tells us on an afternoon with still summery temperatures in his house in Nervi, among agaves and lemon trees. Arriving here, one leaves behind stunning places like Villa Grimaldi or the homes in the Mediterranean scrub rented by the living company Joivy.
Gino Paoli in his living room. Photo by Nicolò Paoli.
"I didn't have a car and, while I worked as a graphic designer, before I took my artistic turn as a singer, I got around on my Lambretta", the singer-songwriter recalls. "So my dream of owning a car was a long time coming and that's also why I owned so many when I could afford it. I spent a lot of money on cars. Even today, at 90, I still love them. I've gone back to my old love, the Mini Cooper, which my wife mostly uses."
Paola Penzo, the light of his eyes. A few years ago, for another interview, we all piled into their Mini, with Paola at the wheel, to go to the La Piedigrotta restaurant in Quinto al Mare. Gino complained about the mess in the car. "There's always a senseless chaos, but Paola is a special case. It must be said that she's an extraordinary driver. I'm the one who's always driven badly, who's gotten into trouble, but then in my old age I became more cautious. My wife says I married her because she was the only one who had the courage to get in the car with me. Maybe she's right."
Let's talk about his car collection. "I've always been obsessive about it, but it's in Italian DNA; we feel the allure of cars. I started with an Austin-Healey, the model was the 3000 MKII BN7 Roadster, the "Big Healey" of the early '60s. Fabulous. With the earnings from Ricordi for the rights I earned with 'La gatta' I satisfied my whim, but then I melted it down shortly after buying it." He found solace in the car he will remain most fond of, "the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, red with black interior, designed by Pininfarina. I was in love with it as if it were a woman. It was basically one of those cars that remain permanently convertible and where you jump in, like you see in the movies. I don't remember ever opening the door. It was the car that made you dream because of its beauty."
Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.
Paoli emphasizes the imagery: "I think of the cars I've owned, like the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, or the Ferrari GTS Spider I bought in 1965 on the advice of Enzo Ferrari, whom I met in Maranello, or the Lamborghini Miura. They're icons of taste. Sometimes you feel like saying, 'I'll buy them and put them in the living room as ornaments.' They're works of art, things that, at least for me and people like me, seem unattainable and, when I reached them, I even broke them."
In his garages he's parked Porsches, Ferraris ("a Scaglietti, a 208 GTS Turbo and a GTO 250. Never a red Ferrari, only silver-gray and light blue"), a Lancia Flaminia GT Coupé Touring, a Triumph TR3, several BMWs and Mercedes ("all types, I remember the M130. They're cars made specifically for those who use them for work and for a while I only chose comfortable, functional cars for my professional commitments"), but the Mini is the real car for Paoli. "The Mini Cooper was a discovery for me. You didn't see them in Italy in the '60s. A friend of mine from Bologna had one, a tuned version. I courted him until he sold it to me. For several years, I drove around exclusively in that one. Small, sleek, elegant. When I went to the movies and left it parked outside, I'd find it surrounded by onlookers when I came out. It was exceptional, all Minis are. I call it the little machine, it's an absolute invention, there's no other like it, in terms of speed, grip, comfort."
The great singer, who recently published his autobiography ‘What I'll do when I grow up. My first 90 years’, preceded by the 2019 album ‘Notes from a long journey’, for a long time kept his most luxurious cars directly in the grounds of the villa where he lived in Genoa, "so I could always see them", Paoli smiles now. Music and cars have traveled together throughout his life. "I've always listened to pop songs only in the car when I was traveling", he confides, "while at home I prefer listening to Mozart and Tchaikovsky." His tastes are always refined, as is his taste for luxury cars, of which he appreciates not only their aesthetics but also their performance on the road. "I really liked driving", he adds.
Paoli, who passed on the same passion to his son Nicolò, an artist and craftsman, also expressed in his years as a videographer and drone pilot for Movimage in Modena, working with brands like Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini, says: "cars excited me because of their engines, their mechanics, their ability to grip the road. When I once drove the Jaguar E-Type, which is now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I struggled a lot; it had all the weight in front of it. I wanted a car that worked as God intended and cars like that are only made in Italy or Germany."
We conclude our conversation by commenting on the almost continuous parade of luxury cars seen in Monte Carlo, on Avenue Princesse Grace between the Grimaldi Forum and Cipriani, where "you see these cars that drive me crazy: Porsches, Bugattis, Lotuses, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins..." And especially Rolls-Royces, dozens of them, in the parking lots below the Casino or in front of the Hôtel de Paris. "I've always been jealous of Rolls-Royces; they're a perfect car for having fun, but I've never bought one. I came close; I was about to buy one in London, at a very reasonable price, but then I gave up when they told me the taxman would kill me! Equipe 84, they had one in the '60s, they had a lot of fun. In my autobiography, I said that once, on tour with Ornella (Vanoni), we were in Rome and, on the way from the Sistina to the hotel, I passed a Rolls-Royce dealership. The first time, I stopped in front of the window. The second time, I stopped a little longer. The third time, I went in to look at it up close. The fourth time, I started talking to the dealer. I felt a little voice inside me whispering, 'come on, Gino, buy it, buy it.’ Luxury cars are also irresistible temptresses.” The singer, a symbol of Genoa and of great Italian songwriting, was also tempted by speed, "but only when I was completely stupid", he jokes today. "When I was young, Luigi Tenco and I used to compete to see who could get there first. When we didn't have cars, we did it on motorbikes from Pegli to Genoa, then with the Porsche from Rome to Genoa. I said it, I was stupid." The dazzling Genoa sun begins to fade, the façade of Palazzo Durazzo turns orange and gold, but Gino's long love affair with cars never wanes.
Gino Paoli and Stefania Sandrelli, a scandalous love and a bullet in the heart. An overwhelming passion, scandals and suicide attempts. Until a feeling transforms and lasts a lifetime. By Anna Lupini on March 24, 2026.
Lovers, friends, life partners: beyond convention and against respectability. Stefania Sandrelli and Gino Paoli caused a scandal with their love, but they remain etched in the collective memory as a great love story, like one of those he sang about in his songs.
Stefania was 15 when she saw Gino for the first time. It was at La Bussola, where, fresh from her Miss Viareggio crown, she had been taken to celebrate her birthday. He was already famous and that night he was singing at the club, one of the most famous in Versilia; he was married and thirty years old. They looked into each other's eyes and "that room no longer had walls."
Gino Paoli and Stefania Sandrelli.
Their relationship began in secret and meanwhile Stefania dreamed of becoming an actress. So she decided to move to Rome, not Milan as Gino had wanted. Meanwhile, in Genoa, he was still living with his wife, Anna Fabbri, with whom he didn't get along but didn't separate.
Stefania Sandrelli in a bikini in 1961.
In 1961, Stefania made her film debut in Mario Sequi's Gioventù di notte, but she established herself thanks to a hat-trick of masterpieces that she strung together: alongside Ugo Tognazzi in Il federale (1961), directed by Luciano Salce, Divorce Italian style (1961), with Marcello Mastroianni and Seduced and abandoned (1964), both directed by Pietro Germi. It was the definitive success.
Gino Paoli with Stefania Sandrelli.
The fire of passion with Paoli begins to fade. Gino notices this and dedicates Sapore di sale to her, "that slightly bitter taste of lost things." It's not enough to rekindle Stefania's interest. Gino Paoli takes a drastic step: he points the gun at his heart and shoots himself. The bullet stops just millimeters from his heart and remains there to this day.
Gino Paoli with Stefania Sandrelli.
Stefania runs to her Gino, desperate and tells him: "it's not true that you love me, otherwise you wouldn't have done it, risking never seeing me again." She assists him in his convalescence, but he is accompanied not only by Anna, who is still his wife, but also by Ornella Vanoni, with whom Gino has started a new relationship.
Gino Paoli with Stefania and Amanda Sandrelli.
In 1964, Amanda was born in Switzerland, taking her mother's surname. Stefania was still a minor. That year, Giovanni, son of Paoli and his wife Anna, was also born. It was a huge scandal, but Gino and Stefania went against everything and everyone. Through ups and downs, the relationship continued until 1968, when Stefania decided to break it off for good.
After the years of love and passion, other women, men and children have appeared in their lives. But the bond between them has remained unbreakable. At eight years old, Amanda went to live with her father and his wife. An extended family before its time.
"Gino and I get along very well now", Stefania Sandrelli has stated in many interviews, including recently. "The passion that bound me to him half a century ago has transformed into boundless admiration for his talent."
Farewell to Gino Paoli, his Ferrari on display at the museum. By Drive Up Editorial Staff on March 24, 2026.
One of Italy's most beloved authors and musicians, Gino Paoli, has passed away at the age of 91. His car collection also included a 275 GTS Pininfarina, purchased in 1965 on the direct advice of Enzo Ferrari, now on display at the Modena museum.
Gino Paoli's Ferrari 275 GTS. Photo by sportmediaset.
One of the iconic voices of Italian music has passed away. In Genoa, the city that welcomed and transformed him musically, Gino Paoli, one of the most profound architects of Italian songwriting, has passed away at the age of 91.
Born in Monfalcone in 1934, Paoli wrote songs that entire generations have come to recognize, such as ‘Il cielo in una stanza’, ‘Sapore di sale’ and ‘Senza fine.’
Behind the elegance of his words and that unmistakable timbre of his voice, however, lived another soul, less talked about but equally authentic: that of a man fascinated by the roar of engines and cars. Italian ones especially.
Gino Paoli's Ferrari 275 GTS.
A meeting in Maranello with Enzo Ferrari sparked the idea of purchasing a 275 GTS Pininfarina, now on display at the Enzo Ferrari Museum in Modena. A two-seater with leather interior and wood trim.
Aldo Cazzullo for Corriere della Sera – Excerpts
Gino Paoli.
Gino Paoli was never where you expected him to be.
A communist, he told you about his mother's relatives killed in the foibe and about the teacher lynched by partisans during the days of the Liberation. An anti-fascist, he explained the reasons for the success of the "arch-Italian" Duce.
His most famous songs are nearly seventy years old and they seem like they were written yesterday. ‘Il cielo in una stanza’, considered a hymn to romantic love, was dedicated to a prostitute and "soffitto viola" was that of a brothel.
‘Sapore di sale’ is from 1963, the year of the height of the economic boom: that melancholy song was the beginning of the end and the initial dissonance — by Ennio Morricone — was the first crack in the glass. "I wrote 'Sapore di sale' in half an hour, as if someone were dictating it to me", Gino said. "They were wonderful years, even the workers had 1.500 lire to go to the Capannina and they thought it would last forever. But I could already see clouds gathering on the horizon."
Gino Paoli and his relationship with Ornella Vanoni: "it's softened with age and she says things she shouldn't."
No one had a life span like his, from Tenco to the controversy with Elodie (and he really wasn't mad at her, it was a generic tirade against female artists who make a career by showing off their bodies), passing through Mina and Celentano. No one has experienced everything he's experienced: whiskey, cocaine, car racing, even a bullet lodged in the heart.
Gino Paoli with Ornella Vanoni.
"I had everything and I felt nothing. The two most beautiful women in Italy, Ornella Vanoni and Stefania Sandrelli, were in love with me. In the garage I had a Porsche, a Ferrari and a Flaminia Touring. What else could I have? I wanted to see what was on the other side. So I shot myself in the heart." And perhaps what Paoli said was true, that Tenco, stunned by that drug from Sweden, Pronox, wanted to imitate him: shoot himself and stay alive.
As a young man, he was a painter and boxed: "my father told me: 'if you get hit, I'll give you the rest.' In post-war Genoa, knowing how to fight was a necessity." For example, he fought with the police in the July 1960 uprising and with Felice Maniero, the boss of the Brenta mafia, to defend a woman.
Like great artists, Gino was also a bit of a sorcerer, his own demiurge, the creator of his own legend.
He claimed descent from Pasquale Paoli, a patriot of Corsican independence. His grandfather worked in the Piombino foundries, had driven away fascists and could break tables with one hand. His grandmother was blind, managed to get married at seventy and the harmonica that resembles a ‘heaven in a room’ organ was the harmonica Gino played for his grandparents in church.
The February 2026 cover of Rolling Stone dedicated to Gino Paoli.
Despite the clichés about Ligurians, he was incredibly generous. He spent his first earnings on ruffles to offer to his friends. He was the one who launched Califano, he was the one who convinced Lucio Dalla to sing solo: "we toured the Italy of the Cantagiro in a convertible, both of us very hairy and we weren't a pretty sight. We slept back to back and it never crossed my mind that he liked men."
One evening at the Bussola, he lost his temper with the audience booing his versions of Brel and Brassens songs and told everyone to go to hell (Gino didn't say "hell"). The next day, he had a lineup of wealthy bourgeoisie wanting to be told to go to hell by Gino Paoli.
Women went crazy for him, for his music, for his mustache, for his blue eyes, for his evil look.
Ornella Vanoni.
Every man's nightmare came true for Gino the morning he found his wife Anna and Ornella Vanoni sitting on the swing, asking him, "you have to choose, either me or her."
Stefania Sandrelli.
Gino did what any man would do: he ran away. Around the corner was Stefania Sandrelli, with whom he had a beautiful daughter, Amanda, the same age as his son with his wife, Giovanni. At the end of the street, Paola, the woman who had closed his eyes, was waiting for him. At the time, Gino had a girlfriend in every city: "Paola confronted them all, one by one. The last one to give in was the one in Turin. Paola threatened her with a knife."
With 1968, Gino disappeared. He went to manage a club in Levanto, fell into alcohol and drugs. He returned and wrote more wonderful songs, such as ‘Una lunga storia d'amore’ (A long love story), ‘Quattro amici al bar’ (Four friends at the bar). His friends included Tenco, Lauzi, De André, Beppe Grillo — "I don't agree with him on politics, but friends help each other, not criticize each other" —, Renzo Piano, who adored him, Antonio Ricci, who yesterday cried for the first time in thirty years.
Gino, too, rarely cried. He was one of those men who hide a profound sensitivity behind their bravado. The death of his son Giovanni had affected him deeply, the passing of Ornella Vanoni was a terrible pain. But death took him alive, still able to play the piano, to sing, to look out over the infinite panorama from his terrace at home and gaze at the sea. The sea he saw from an attic in Boccadasse, frequented by a cat with a black spot on her face (...)
Photo gallery
Stefania Sandrelli
A young Stefania Sandrelli.
A young Stefania Sandrelli.
Stefania Sandrelli in ‘The key’ (La chiave) from 1983.
Stefania Sandrelli in ‘The key’ (La chiave) from 1983.
Stefania Sandrelli in ‘The key’ (La chiave) from 1983.
Stefania Sandrelli in ‘The key’ (La chiave) from 1983.
Stefania Sandrelli.
Ornella Vanoni
Ornella Vanoni on a Vespa.
Portrait of Ornella Vanoni.
Ornella Vanoni.
Portrait of Ornella Vanoni in 1977.
Ornella Vanoni on the cover of Playboy in 1977.
Ornella Vanoni on the set of Playboy in 1977.
Ornella Vanoni.
Ornella Vanoni in panties.
Ornella Vanoni naked.
Ornella Vanoni in a bikini.
The Italian actress and singer Ornella Vanoni, in a lilac lace baby-doll, kneeling on the ground with raised arms in Italy in 1985. Photo by Angelo Deligio / Mondadori via Getty Images.
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