The manuscript of Tutte le Mani del Maffia has been locked in! All written contributions and all graphic materials have been delivered. The first read-through review has also been completed — all that remains now is the final editing. The book, following the successful 2025 crowdfunding campaign, was curated by the Maffia Collective (Federico Amico, Paolo Davoli, Gabriele Fantuzzi, Luca Roccatagliati, Letizia Rustichelli). The book will be published under Rizosfera’s sub-label ‘NUKFM’ in mid-April 2026.
Thirty years have passed since the birth of the Maffia Illicit Music Club (1995-2009), and such a milestone called for something special: the publication of a remarkable book assembled by the Collettivo Maffia—a diverse group bringing together founders, DJs, graphic designers, theorists, artistic directors, and the creative and organizational forces behind the club as it once was.
The Maffia Illicit Music Club was truly one of a kind, not just in the world of clubbing and DIY culture, but across the artistic, musical, and theoretical-critical landscape. The book captures not just the extraordinary range of what the club generated—across music, art, aesthetics, performance, literature, and theory—but also offers a window onto a particularly fertile moment at the end of the millennium. It was a time when an international artistic-existential scene, still in the wake of the rave explosion, was witnessing a technological revolution that was reshaping everything, from daily life to art and politics.
In this light, Tutte le mani del Maffia does something genuinely original: it traces the outlines of a self-organized creative community, one that forged its own language and skillfully sidestepped the clichés of clubs, discos, and community spaces alike. Like the two-faced god Janus, it was at once popular and radically experimental. The Maffia Illicit Music Club was, in short, a unique phenomenon: part creative hub, part heterodox cultural machine. The book tells its story brilliantly, weaving together thematic and chronological threads with just the right amount of creative chaos—striking a balance between nostalgia and the spirit of club culture.
Over the years, the Maffia Illicit Music Club has hosted, among others: Goldie, Kemistry & Storm, Fabio, Grooverider, LTJ Bukem, 4 Hero, Lemon D, Dillinja, Aphrodite, General Levy, DJ Hype, Zinc, Roni Size, DJ Krust, DJ Die, DJ Suv, Breakbeat Era, I-Kamanchi, London Elektricity, DJ Marky, Patife, Ed Rush, Optical, J Majik, Doc Scott, Shy FX, Kenny Ken, Hidden Agenda, Fatboy Slim, Propellerheads, Matt Cantor, Photek, Peshay, Amon Tobin, Andy C, DJ Rap, One True Parker, Storm, Howie B, James Lavelle, DJ Food, Coldcut, Funky Porcini, Herbaliser, Red Snapper, Daddy Longlegs, Naked Funk, Spacer, Keiron B, Optimo, Ian Simmonds, Bushflange, Headrillaz, Lamb, Tony Thorpe, Dave Watts, Aki Nawwaz, Transglobal Underground, Nitin Sawhney, Young Gods, Laibach, Test Department, Foetus, Andrew Weatherall, Dave Tipper, Radioactive Man, Royksopp, Santos, Massive Attack Soundsystem, Morcheeba, Talvin Singh, State of Bengal.
