Surrounded by the Tuscan countryside, Lari has returned to being my refuge. After years of studio life in the chaos of Rome, I felt the need to return to my small hometown and to dedicate myself to a recording and production space that expressed a more balanced way of working and living. This landscape is an invitation to slow down and focus.

I can’t explain in words what I feel in this medieval village on top of the hill, crowned by its castle and protected by ancient walls. It’s like some kind of magic. It is a rare balance – time stretches differently here. Something precious has been preserved in Lari.

The inhabitants welcome you as part of their own community not just a visitor but they are also able to be respectful and discreet. If you wish to engage, you are embraced like family, if you seek privacy, it is also respected. Both choices feel natural and accepted.

I have gathered and preserved in the studio the gear that has given over time a character to the sound: a Steinway grand piano, a Hammond B3 organ, microphones from the 1920s to today, an MCI tape machine, a Teletronics compressor — but, at the same time, I see in immersive digital sound a future for music.

In the same way, through a dedicated fiber-optic connection, it is possible to record from the control room not only the live rooms but also the church, the theatre and the castle, as well as the piazza and the garden. The village itself becomes part of the studio.

I am convinced that all of this can offer a different and unique dimension in which to create music, and I would like to share this relaxing work experience with everyone.

If you decide to come you could be waking up in Matilde’s rooms on the town walls or in an historic villa with pool; we can go for breakfast at Matteo’s in the piazza, or at Michaela’s or Luca’s, with the aroma of fresh bread coming from Stefano and Tommaso’s bakery known for using the same sourdough starter as his great-grandfather.

For dinner you could go at Federico & Paolo’s or Simonetta’s with their traditional dishes, artisanal pasta from Lari by the Martelli family together with our Tuscan wines. Furthermore, at street level, just below the studio you can find the Circolo with its billiards table or table football.

From the castle garden we can see the coast stretching from Cinque Terre to Livorno, Pisa’s leaning tower and incredible sunsets. All of this is immediately outside SAMworld’s recording studio door.

Lari is secluded but at the same time close to Pisa international airport, reachable in half an hour, and to all the città d’arte such as Florence, Pisa, Lucca and Volterra — all within an hour — and to the sea, only thirty minutes away.

I am convinced that all of this can offer a different and unique dimension in which to create music, and I would like to share this relaxing work experience with everyone.