Italo Pizzolante was a Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n poet, composer, musician, professor and engineer of Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 descent. Author of famous songs like Motivos, Mi Puerto Cabello, among others. Pizzolante was married to Nelly Negrón.

His musical vocation started at home, often during family reunions, and following his father's musical bent. Perhaps his most memorable song is Motivos, which has been performed by many artists, including, La Rondalla Venezolana, Los Panchos

Los Panchos

Los Panchos was an internationally famous Latin pop trio known for its romantic ballads and boleros.-History:...

, Chucho Avellanet

Chucho Avellanet

Armando Hipólito Avellanet González , nicknamed "Chucho" is a Puerto Rican singer and comedic actor...

, Armando Manzanero

Armando Manzanero

Armando Manzanero Canché is a Mexican musician and composer of Maya descent, widely considered the premier Mexican romantic composer of the postwar era and one of the most successful composers of Latin America....

, Alfredo Sadel

Alfredo Sadel

Alfredo Sadel was a popular Venezuelan singer and actor. Born Alfredo Sánchez Luna in Caracas, Venezuela, Sadel was affectionately called "The Favorite Tenor of Venezuela" . He adopted his stage name by combining the first syllable of his surname with the last syllable of the surname of his...

, Vicente Fernández

Vicente Fernández

Vicente Fernández Gómez is a Mexican singer, producer and actor. Known as Chente or El rey de la canción ranchera throughout the Latin world, Vicente Fernández, who started his career singing for tips on the street, has become a cultural icon, recording more than 50 albums and contributing to...

 and most recently Luis Miguel

Luis Miguel

Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri is a Mexican singer. He is widely known only by the name Luis Miguel and is often referred to as "El Sol de México"...

. The history of this song, is quite special. Italo composed it on December 1, 1965, for a reunion of friends, was his gift to them.

Another popular song of Pizzolante's repertoire is Mi Puerto Cabello, dedicated to his native town. It was popularized in the 1960s by Felipe Pirela along with the Billos Caracas Boys. In August, 1998 the song was decreed the Official City Anthem.

He gained his first recognition by winning the First Venezuelan Music Contest of the Central University of Venezuela

Central University of Venezuela

The Central University of Venezuela is a premier public University of Venezuela located in Caracas...

 with the song Provincianita.

Italo represented Venezuela in 1992 at the Bolero

Bolero

Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...

 Festival in Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, obtaining first prize.

He has received numerous awards and tributes of both public and private institutions including the degree of knight of the Italian Republic. In addition the Order Italo Pizzolante was created in his honor at the Puerto Cabello School of Engineering.

Other recognition includes the awards, Merit for the Work, Andrés Bello

Andrés Bello

Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López was a Venezuelan humanist, poet, lawmaker, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute an important part of Spanish American culture...

, II Class, the Naval Merit II Class and Francisco de Miranda I Class, Diego de Losada

Diego de Losada

Diego de Losada was a Spanish conquistador and the founder of Santiago de León de Caracas, the current capital of Venezuela.Losada was born in Rionegro del Puente, in what is now the province of Zamora. He reached Puerto Rico in 1533....

, I Class, Sol de Carabobo, and by the city of Puerto Cabello, Bartolomé Salom, Comandante en Jefe Juan Jose Flores and the sash Toma de Puerto Cabello, among others.

Also he has received tributes in Valencia, Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, San Felipe

San Felipe, Yaracuy

San Felipe is the capital of the Venezuelan state of Yaracuy. Former Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera was born there. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Felipe. San Felipe is situated in a rich agricultural region of Western Venezuela...

, Barquisimeto

Barquisimeto

Barquisimeto is the capital city of the State of Lara located in west central Venezuela, halfway between Caracas and Maracaibo on the Turbio River.-Overview:...

, Valera

Valera

Valera is a city in Trujillo State in Venezuela, situated between the rivers Momboy and Motatán. The mayor is Temístocles Cabezas, who has had that post since 2009. The city is home to Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Colombian and Spanish communities...

, San Cristóbal

San Cristóbal, Táchira

San Cristóbal is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Táchira. It is located in a mountainous region of Western Venezuela. The city is situated 818 m/2,625 ft above sea level in the northern Andes overlooking the Torbes River, 56 km/35 mi from the Colombian border. San...

, Maracaibo

Maracaibo

Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...

, Calabozo

Calabozo

Villa de Todos los Santos de Calabozo, an inland town of Venezuela, once capital of the Province of Caracas in the colonial period, formerly in the State of Miranda and former capital of the state of Guárico....

, Guarenas

Guarenas

Guarenas is a city in Miranda, Venezuela. It was established in 1621 as Nuestra Señora de Copacabana de los Guarenas. On February 27, 1989, a morning protest in this city over the recent nationwide hike in bus fares, spread to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, which resulted in several days of...

 and Cumaná

Cumaná

Cumaná is the capital of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located 402 km east of Caracas. It was the first settlement founded by Europeans in the mainland America, in 1501 by Franciscan friars, but due to successful attacks by the indigenous people, it had to be refounded several times...

.

In 2001, he received an award at the Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex

Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex

The Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex , also known as Teresa Carreño Theater , is the most important theatre of Caracas and Venezuela, where performances include symphonic and popular concerts, opera, ballet and plays...

, along with other Venezuelan musicians.

Pizzolante died on 12 March 2011 in Puerto Cabello

Puerto Cabello

Puerto Cabello is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State about 75 km west of Caracas. As of 2001, the city has a population of around 154,000 people. The city is the home to the largest port in the country and is thus a vital cog in the country's vast oil...

, Carabobo

Carabobo

Carabobo State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The capital city of this state is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is 4,650 km² and had an estimated population of...

, at the age of 82.

Sources

• Talento Venezolano blog
• TV program Biografías (Globovisión, September 22, 2007)