Collettivo Maffia

MAFFIA COLLETTIVO is composed by Federico A. Amico, Paolo Davoli, Gabriele Fantuzzi, Luca Roccatagliati, and Letizia Rustichelli. It has been operating informally since the 2020s, later debuting in 2025 as the curatorial collective behind the book Tutte le mani del Maffia (Rizosfera, NUKFM027, 2026). The members of Collettivo Maffia identify with the artistic, associative, political, and existential experience of the Maffia Illicit Music Club, a renowned club founded in Reggio Emilia in 1995, which subsequently closed in 2009. In various capacities (including founders, organizers, artistic and creative directors, musicians, and theorists), the members of Collettivo Maffia are involved in the management and organization of the historical archive of the Maffia Illicit Music Club for the benefit of the local and international community through the Maffia Illicit Music Club Foundation.

MEMBERS

FEDERICO A. AMICO studied Philosophy in Bologna. A writer and essayist in the world of comics — his recent work includes the reprint of Raymond Capp for Cosmo Editore, with drawings by Marco Nizzoli — he was president of the Maffia Illicit Music Club from 1998 to 2005. Parallel to his cultural activities, he has gained extensive experience in associations: he was president of Arci Reggio Emilia (2005-2013) and subsequently of Arci Emilia-Romagna (2014-2020). Spokesperson for the Forum Terzo Settore E.R. between 2016 and 2019, he held the position of Regional Councilor and President of the Commission for Equality and People’s Rights during the 2020-2024 term. He is currently President of Acer Reggio Emilia, the agency that manages public residential housing.

PAOLO DAVOLI, an independent researcher, co-edited with Gabriele Fantuzzi the trilogy of books Clubspotting (Happy Books 2000, 2002, 2005), with philosopher Stefano Oliva the 10th issue of the journal La Deleuziana: Chaos, Rhythm, and Non-Pulsed Man (La Deleuziana, 2019/Rizosfera, 2020), and with Gabriele Fantuzzi Naked Punk (Rizosfera, 2024). He founded, with others, the collectives Kom-Fut Manifesto (1989), Rizosfera (2016), Obsolete Capitalism (2013), the clubs Red’Ko (1993-1994) and Maffia (1995-2009) and the electronic music fanzine Ultratomato (2000-2003). President of Rizosfera, he curates the editorial series I forti dell’avvenire and Rizonomia for Rizosfera, and the sub-labels Armcomm Europe, Rizosfera America, NUKFM, and Rizosfera Transmedia.

GABRIELE FANTUZZI, an illustrator, graphic designer, creative director at Delicatessen Design Studio, and teacher at Scuola Comics. He founded, with others, the Arci club Il Signor Spartaco (1989), the comics magazine Arena (1990), and the Kom-Fut Manifesto collective. He was the artistic director and founder of the Red’ko and Maffia clubs. He curated the visual identity of the magazine Ultratomato (UT), the Clubspotting books, Obsolete Capitalism, and Rizosfera. With the publisher Happy Books, he created the illustration book series Mondofragile and Mascotte (2002-2004). Together with Paolo Davoli, he is the editor of Naked Punk (Rizosfera, 2024). He is the tireless curator and organizer of the book Tutte le mani del Maffia (Rizosfera, NUKFM 027, 2026).

LUCA ROCCATAGLIATI, whose stage name/nickname is DJ Rocca, is a producer and musician active since the 1990s, with a repertoire of 15 albums, approximately ninety singles, and over a hundred remixes. He has released music on the best dance music labels and has collaborated with Andrew Weatherall, Howie B, Jazzanova, Dimitri From Paris, François Kevorkian, Franco D’Andrea, and Daniele Baldelli. Starting as a resident and art director of the Maffia Club, he has performed both as a DJ and as a musician in clubs all over the world, from London to Berlin, from Oslo to Barcelona, Paris, Turkey, Japan, China, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Brazil.

LETIZIA RUSTICHELLI, a lecturer in Italian language and literature at Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing (China). She co-founded, with others, the Institute of Dubbology, one of the first Italian club culture agencies which served as the organizational hub for the Maffia Club’s events, where she also held the role of administrative and legal officer. With Paolo Davoli, she founded the cultural association Rizosfera in 2016, and until 2025, she managed its polymedia productions from concept to completion. She oversees the English translations of texts of all Rizosfera’s published works. She edited the books Lost in Translation (Tecnograf, 2009) and La storica cocciuta (Tecnograf, 2008), co-authored with Monica Valcavi, on the mechanisms of editorial translations of postcolonial English-language authors into Italian. In 2025, she translated Paolo Bertoni’s Adi Newton: Second Sight from Italian into English for the UK-based publisher PC-Press, together with Peter Webb.