Alternative music is a genre of songs and musical compositions (see Historical overview) set apart from the usual, market-oriented products. Instead of being created just for fun or for commercial purposes, the objectives of this rich musical heritage are to express, interpret and share the ideological evolution, the political opposition, the moral and social values, in addition to, the emotions and dreams of Italy’s rightist youth, who have been marginalized from the rest of their country for the past fifty years.

The alternative music movement has very particular cultural and historical connotations that make it unique and exclusive. First of all, for as much as it was ostracized, it never closed in on itself. Even though it is an expression of a non-conformist culture, of an antagonistic youth, of an alternative means of political involvement, alternative music was able, thanks to its tenacious poetic search and constant adapting to new musical styles, to become an ideal cultural and political bridge between an elite group which rebelled at conforming and the surrounding world of young people eager to conform as fashions dictated.

Another surprising factor of this cultural phenomenon is its ability to endure over time. Alternative music, as we know it today, has developed in a constant and uninterrupted manner for more than thirty years (from the late 60’s until today). We don’t have before us, therefore, a music happening tied to the emotions of a particular historical period, such as is the case with war songs or songs of social protest, but instead, a form of expression, communication, promotion and, also, propaganda which has been consolidated in time. And as such, it has become part of the cultural and ideological patrimony of all who support the political philosophy of the right. The songs are unique in one other major respect. Despite Italy’s various historical and political upheavals, the diversity of the groups and soloists who have embraced this musical form, and the advances in music techniques, the topic of alternative music has remained the same for over thirty years: the adventures, the struggles, the pain, as well as, the hopes and dreams of over two generations of rightist activists. By evoking the traditional values and historical themes, that are utterly neglected by mainstream Italian culture, alternative music can be considered as the epitome of consistency in ideals and sense of continuity in Italy’s ever changing political, and even musical, arena.

Finally, the salient aspect of alternative music, that which in fact qualifies it as such and distinguishes it from any other type of music, be it pop, political, ethnic, folk or traditional, is that the spread of alternative music occurred outside the usual channels. None of the over 300 alternative musical works of over a 100 artists (soloists or members of groups) that have been catalogued up to now has ever been sold in record shops, nor have any of the 750 songs in the repertory ever been promoted on television or radio, and except for some highly politicised articles in a few high circulation newspapers, the only reporting of this music has been in the rightist press.

The widespread dissemination of two generations of this vast musical, political and social legacy occurred, as is typical in underground cultures, solely by word-of-mouth. In an era of global communication in real-time, this huge, though largely misunderstood, phenomenon of artistic expression, is in fact, in direct opposition, (truly alternative) to the common patterns of mass communication.

In terms of artistic output, duration or number of people involved, no other Carbonaro, underground or clandestine cultural phenomenon has grown like alternative music. It has become the most enduring multifaceted macroscopic example of submerged culture in Italy’s history.