Alusa Fallax are one of the hidden gems of Italian progressive rock — a Milanese band who, after years leading a double life as a dance orchestra, poured all their ambition into a single magnificent album in 1974. Lush, melodic and led by classically inflected keyboards, “Intorno alla Mia Cattiva Educazione” is a beloved one-shot masterpiece of the RPI scene.

The short version

Formed in Milan in 1969, Alusa Fallax spent the early 1970s quietly absorbing the progressive movement while earning a living on the dance-hall circuit. In 1974 they released their sole album, an ambitious concept work conceived as a kind of staged opera, rich in melody, flute, saxophone and lush keyboards. Pressed in tiny numbers and barely promoted, it nonetheless became a cherished RPI classic. For anyone drawn to the melodic, symphonic side of Italian prog, it is essential.

From a dance band to prog

Alusa Fallax took shape in Milan in 1969, evolving out of an earlier beat group, Gli Adelfi, that had been active since the mid-1960s. Under their new, more elegant name, the quintet released a pair of melodic singles that made little commercial impact. Rather than give up, the band adopted a shrewd double life: continuing to perform publicly as a dance orchestra to make a living, while privately developing an ambitious progressive repertoire, absorbing the best of the prog movement then flourishing around them. It was a patient strategy that would eventually yield one remarkable album.

Melodic, keyboard-led symphonic prog

Alusa Fallax sat on the lush, pastoral, melodic side of Italian prog, a world away from the genre’s heaviest bands. Their music was led by the classically influenced keyboards of Massimo Parretti — piano, organ, harpsichord and synthesizer — and coloured by Mario Cirla’s flute, saxophone and French horn, lending the music a warm, almost chamber-like richness. Beautiful melodies and strong hooks were always at the forefront, even amid sudden shifts in time signature and mood. Often compared to the best of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, theirs was a refined, romantic and instantly engaging take on symphonic prog.

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Intorno alla Mia Cattiva Educazione

Released in 1974 on Fonit, “Intorno alla Mia Cattiva Educazione” — “About My Bad Education” — was conceived not as a conventional LP but as a kind of opera, a concert arranged into scenes. Its story followed a boy stifled by a harsh, strict upbringing who gradually frees himself to begin a new life. The band brought this to the stage with a strikingly theatrical approach, the central character represented by a puppet that the members manipulated in turn during performances. Musically, the album’s first side unfolds as a classically inflected, formally structured suite, full of unusual rhythms, building to a cathartic climax, while the second develops related themes across a series of shorter songs. Pressed in only around five thousand copies and given little promotion, the album passed largely unnoticed at the time — yet it was later rediscovered and embraced, even finding an appreciative audience in Japan, as one of the great one-shot treasures of Italian prog.

Album by album

A single, self-contained masterpiece. Tap the title for its guide.

The players

Alusa Fallax were notably a family affair, featuring three Cirla brothers. Augusto “Duty” Cirla handled lead vocals and percussion, Mario “Giondo” Cirla supplied flute, saxophones and horn, and Guido Cirla played bass, all three contributing vocals. Alongside them, Massimo Parretti was the band’s compositional and keyboard mainstay, the classical heart of their sound, while Guido Gabet provided electric and acoustic guitar. After the album, with progressive rock giving way to disco, the band returned to the dance circuit, issued a single in 1977 under the name Blizzard, and finally disbanded in 1979 — its members going on to careers outside music.

Where to start

There is only one place to begin, and it is more than enough: “Intorno alla Mia Cattiva Educazione” (1974). Approached with patience — ideally start to finish, as the staged concept work it was meant to be — it reveals itself as a richly melodic, beautifully arranged album that ranks among the finest the RPI scene produced. Few single albums reward the listener so generously.

Why they still matter

Alusa Fallax are a perfect example of why Italian progressive rock rewards deep exploration. A band who never achieved success in their day, who made just one album in tiny numbers, they nonetheless created a work of real beauty and ambition that later generations of fans came to treasure. Lush, melodic and conceptually bold, “Intorno alla Mia Cattiva Educazione” stands as a hidden classic of RPI, and a reminder of how much remarkable music the scene quietly produced. For anyone willing to look beyond the famous names, Alusa Fallax are a deeply rewarding discovery.

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