After 34 years, Dino Franchetto, owner of the city’s historic and only record store, Saxophone, is closing its doors. In the streaming age with giants like Spotify and YouTube, there is no longer a place for this type of activity. Padua’s “Il 33” also lowered the shutter; It’s the end of an era of music on physical media.
Dino had started with great passion at Alta Fideltà in Bertesinella, where the children listened with fascination to his stories about the groups that made music history. It was the 70s and bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors and Pink Floyd were releasing their masterpieces. During these years, Dino also created compilations of all the fans’ favorite songs. He then moved to the center of Vicenza and opened Saxophones where Dominio is now, eventually finding a home on Via Roma at the current location, which is about to close.
Saxophone is a temple of music; The historic employee Fabio Maran (who died a few years ago) worked here for many years and Dino, together with his wife, resisted the changing tastes, habits and types of customers. He wanted someone to carry on his work, but he couldn’t find them.
So at 72 years old, Dino Franchetto said enough. Once he sells his historic legacy of at least 10,000 vinyls, CDs and cassettes, the result of decades of research, selection and passion, he will take the sign down for good.
There are no more young people to spend Saturday afternoons listening to records or enough to run a store. Now we go to the platforms that offer the latest releases for free and where you can find the albums of almost all artists, from the most famous to the new promises, from rock to classical. But we are losing so much, the human connection, the exchange of ideas, discoveries, niche productions, new listening, which can only happen in a music store where there are those who love it and live in it.
