When a little more than a teenager, I was a piano-bar pianist in the land where I was born and raised, Tuscany.

When you're on stage singing, you're naked. Your voice is something very intimate, and that's why I'm scared every time before I perform. It doesn't matter if I'm singing for a king or a queen or the Pope, it's enough to be in front of anybody. I suffer, but I can't do anything about it.

I first started playing in piano bars for three reasons - to make money, to be in the company of my friends - and also to hook up with young girls. I always knew, even before I played in piano bars, about the effect of my voice.

I think I don't want to use drugs or medicine, so nothing. The only way is to go on stage and to hope.

My real passion is for opera. It was born and developed by listening to records, and my dream as a child was to record entire operas when I grew up, and this dream came true.

Fatherhood is a very natural thing; it's not something that shakes up my life but rather it enriches it.

I have a European frame of mind and Europe is my home.