Thomas Raggi: The Quiet Guitarist Who Became a Rock Icon

For millions worldwide, the name Thomas Raggi is synonymous with the electrifying riffs and glam-rock swagger that propelled Måneskin from Roman streets to global arenas. As the band’s guitarist, his intricate, raw, and unapologetically loud playing provided the backbone for anthems like “Zitti e buoni” and “I Wanna Be Your Slave,” helping to redefine rock for a new generation. Yet, the story of Thomas Raggi extends far beyond the stage he shares with Damiano, Victoria, and Ethan. It is a narrative of quiet dedication, explosive creativity, and an artistic evolution that has culminated in his bold solo debut, ‘Masquerade’—a project that sees him stepping fully into his own spotlight. This journey from a determined teenager in Rome to an international rock icon collaborating with legends like Tom Morello is a testament to the power of passion, instinct, and the enduring spirit of rock and roll.

The Making of a Guitarist: From Rome to the World Stage

The foundation of Thomas Raggi‘s musical identity was laid in Rome, born from instinct and a deep-seated passion that emerged in childhood. In interviews, he recalls that his journey began “as soon as I could hold a guitar,” describing an almost magnetic pull toward the instrument when he first saw it. This initial spark was fanned by his father, whose own musical tastes provided a crucial early influence. It was a raw, organic beginning, less about formal training and more about a visceral connection to sound and feeling. This foundational approach—prioritizing emotion and energy over technical perfection—would become a hallmark of his style, both in Måneskin and in his solo work. By his early teens, this passion was ready to find its tribe.

Fate intervened during his high school years in the Monteverde neighborhood of Rome. It was there he met bassist Victoria De Angelis and vocalist Damiano David. The trio, united by a shared dream and a rebellious rock spirit, soon connected with drummer Ethan Torchio from nearby Frosinone, completing the lineup of what would become Måneskin. The band’s formation in 2016 was pragmatic; they needed a name to register for a local music contest called “Pulse”. Settling on the Danish word for “moonlight,” suggested by Victoria, they embarked on a journey that would start with busking in the streets of Rome’s Colli Portuensi district and Via del Corso. These humble beginnings, playing for passersby, forged a tight-knit, resilient dynamic and a powerful live energy that would become their trademark.

The Måneskin Meteoric Rise: A Collective Triumph

The band’s big break came in 2017 with their appearance on the eleventh season of Italy’s X Factor. Under the mentorship of Manuel Agnelli, they finished as runners-up, but more importantly, they captured the national imagination. Their performances, including a now-iconic cover of “Beggin’,” showcased a confident, stylish, and blisteringly loud rock act that stood out dramatically on the pop-centric show. This exposure launched them into the Italian mainstream, but the pinnacle of their early career—and the catalyst for global fame—was their victory at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2021 with “Zitti e buoni”. The win was a shock to the festival’s traditional establishment, proving a hard-rock song could triumph on Italy’s most prestigious musical stage. More consequentially, it earned them the right to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest that same year.

At Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam, Thomas Raggi and his bandmates did more than just compete; they staged a rock and roll revolution. Their performance of “Zitti e buoni” was a masterclass in controlled chaos—Damiano’s charismatic snarl, Victoria and Ethan’s pounding rhythm section, and Thomas’s slicing, addictive guitar riffs. When they were declared the winners, they didn’t just bring the trophy back to Italy for the first time in decades; they declared to a television audience of nearly 200 million that “rock and roll never dies!”. Overnight, Måneskin became a global phenomenon. Streams skyrocketed, “I Wanna Be Your Slave” and “Beggin'” charted across Europe and the UK, and they became the first Italian rock band to crack the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. Through sold-out world tours and performances on stages like Saturday Night Live, Thomas evolved from a skilled guitarist into a rock icon, his riffs providing the signature sound for a band that sold an estimated 40 million records worldwide.

The Solo Calling: Conceptualizing ‘Masquerade’

After years of collective triumph, a natural desire for individual creative exploration began to stir. Following Måneskin’s third album, RUSH!, and a monumental headline show at London’s O2 Arena, the band mutually decided to take a brief hiatus to pursue personal projects. For Thomas Raggi, this wasn’t an act of separation but one of artistic expansion. He viewed this solo venture as essential experimentation, a way to gather new influences and perspectives that would ultimately enrich the band’s future work. The concept for his debut album, Masquerade, was ambitious and deeply personal. Inspired by legendary collaborative albums like Slash’s self-titled record, Raggi envisioned a project that would “put different generations together,” blending his modern rock energy with the wisdom and styles of his heroes.

The heart of this vision was a partnership with one of his greatest idols: Tom Morello, the revolutionary guitarist of Rage Against the Machine. The two had previously collaborated on the track “Gossip” for Måneskin’s RUSH! album, and a profound mutual respect had developed. Raggi admired Morello’s “super strong vision” and unique, scientific approach to guitar tone, while Morello recognized in Raggi an authentic “rock-and-roll spirit”. It felt natural, then, for Raggi to ask Morello to produce Masquerade. The album was recorded the old-fashioned way at the famed Henson Studios in Los Angeles, with musicians collaborating in the same room—a deliberate choice to capture a raw, live energy that Raggi felt was often lost in modern, file-sharing recording methods. This process was, as Raggi described it, “truly magical,” driven purely by instinct and the shared joy of creation.

Table: Key Collaborators on Thomas Raggi’s ‘Masquerade’

Inside the Studio: Collaboration and Creative Alchemy

The recording sessions for Masquerade were less like formal studio dates and more like historic rock summits. Thomas Raggi entered the process with a wealth of material—over 50 song ideas—which he and Morello refined down to the album’s potent final tracklist. Each collaboration was unique, often born from spontaneous moments of inspiration. For instance, the track with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith came about almost by accident. While Raggi and Morello were working at Henson, they discovered Smith was in an adjacent studio. They invited him to listen, and his enthusiastic “Fuck yeah, let’s go!” led to an immediate and explosive session. This spontaneity was the album’s lifeblood, creating an environment where legendary musicians could play purely for the love of it.

Raggi embraced his role as both curator and student in these sessions. With Serge Pizzorno of Kasabian, the duo quickly pivoted from a ballad idea to crafting a high-energy art-rock track, with the song coming together in a frenetic, inspired 20 minutes. Working with Maxim of The Prodigy, Raggi aimed for a “match” between his rock style and Maxim’s electronic edge, creating a hybrid sound. Perhaps most symbolically significant was the cover of Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round” with Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos. The choice was deeply personal; for Kapranos, it recalled his earliest attempts at singing, and for Raggi, it was one of the first classic dance songs he remembered. This connection across generations and genres encapsulates the album’s entire ethos. Furthermore, Raggi took the bold step of singing lead vocals on two tracks, a first for him that required vocal lessons and pushed him into vulnerable new territory.

The Sound and Vision of ‘Masquerade’: An Artistic Declaration

Masquerade is more than a solo album; it is a definitive statement of Thomas Raggi‘s artistic identity. While deeply collaborative, the guitar remains the album’s unwavering core. Every song originated from a riff, serving as the foundational pillar around which drums, bass, and vocals were built. The sound is a refined evolution of the raw energy he brings to Måneskin—melodic yet aggressive, technically impressive yet always serving the song’s emotional drive. Critics have noted that the album “opens a window to the unexplored sides of his artistry,” revealing a musician with broader tastes and deeper compositional skills than his band’s hits might suggest. It is a record that celebrates rock’s past while firmly planting itself in the present.

The album’s release in December 2025 was met with acclaim, praised for successfully uniting a “staggering collective of musical legends while remaining completely true to Raggi’s own raw, instinctive rock identity”. It demonstrated that his musicianship could anchor a project of such scale and prestige. For Raggi, the experience was transformative. He has spoken about the excitement of taking Masquerade on the road, including a show at the legendary Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, to share this pure expression of his musical identity directly with fans. The project solidified his status not just as a star guitarist in a famous band, but as a respected, forward-thinking artist in his own right, capable of leading a creative vision that commands the respect of rock royalty.

Life Beyond the Stage: The Person Behind the Persona

Despite the glamour and fame, those close to Thomas Raggi describe him as retaining a grounded, almost introspective quality. He has spoken fondly of the simple, human moments that happened during the making of Masquerade, like playing Dungeons & Dragons with Tom Morello after a long recording session—a glimpse into the genuine friendship that underpinned their professional collaboration. While intensely private about his personal life, he has acknowledged the profound importance of his family, particularly his father’s early influence. This balance between the explosive stage persona and the quiet individual is key to understanding his artistry; the music becomes the channel for all that intensity.

His relationship with his Måneskin bandmates remains the bedrock of his career. He consistently refers to them as a family, bound by a shared history that stretches back to their teenage years. The solo projects, including Damiano David’s Funny Little Fears, are seen not as divergences but as healthy explorations that will ultimately strengthen the group’s collective creativity. Raggi has been clear that when Måneskin reconvenes, they will bring “lots of different elements” from their individual journeys back to the table, promising that their new music “is going to be so powerful”. This mature perspective highlights a commitment to the band’s long-term evolution over short-term fame.

The Future: Måneskin and Beyond

So, what comes next for Thomas Raggi? The immediate future involves touring Masquerade, embracing the challenge of fronting his own band, and relishing the creative freedom it affords. Yet, his path is irrevocably intertwined with Måneskin’s. The band’s hiatus is just that—a pause. Raggi, along with David, De Angelis, and Torchio, have created something too monumental to abandon. The expectation is that their return will see them synthesize their solo experiences into a more complex, confident, and ambitious version of Måneskin. Furthermore, Raggi’s list of dream collaborators continues to grow, mentioning legends like Robert Plant and Lenny Kravitz, as well as contemporary forces like Yungblud, indicating his desire to keep bridging musical generations.

His influence is already measurable. By winning Eurovision with a rock song and then achieving sustained global success, Måneskin, with Raggi’s riffs at the forefront, inspired a resurgence of interest in guitar-driven music among young audiences worldwide. His solo work continues this mission, serving as a gateway for his fans to discover icons like Tom Morello, Chad Smith, and the wider rock canon. As Tom Morello himself suggested, producing Masquerade was partly about “helping shape the next generation of global rock fans”. In this, Thomas Raggi has become a crucial linchpin—connecting rock’s storied past to its vibrant, genre-blending future.

Conclusion

The journey of Thomas Raggi is a compelling modern rock parable. It begins with a boy in Rome instinctively reaching for a guitar, evolves through the whirlwind of global fame with Måneskin, and reaches a new plateau of artistic maturity with the collaborative masterpiece Masquerade. He has proven that quiet dedication can produce the loudest anthems, and that personal exploration can strengthen collective bonds. From the streets of Rome to the studios of Los Angeles, from the Eurovision stage to his own solo tour, Raggi has carried with him a relentless belief in the power of raw, instinctive, and heartfelt rock and roll. He is no longer just the guitarist for Måneskin; he is a torchbearer for the genre, a collaborator with his heroes, and a testament to the fact that authentic passion, when nurtured with hard work and bold creativity, can indeed light up the world. The final mask has been removed, revealing not just a skilled musician, but a complete and formidable artist.

Frequently Asked Questions About Thomas Raggi

What inspired Thomas Raggi to start playing guitar?

Thomas Raggi has described his attraction to the guitar as almost instinctual. He recalls that he started making music “as soon as I could hold a guitar,” and that seeing the instrument for the first time prompted him to immediately ask his father to buy him one. This early inspiration was heavily supported by his father’s own musical influence, setting him on a path that felt natural and destined from a very young age.

How did Thomas Raggi meet the other members of Måneskin?

The core of Måneskin was formed in high school. Thomas Raggi, Damiano David, and Victoria De Angelis all met as students in the Monteverde neighborhood of Rome. They shared a passion for music and a common dream. Later, they found their drummer, Ethan Torchio, from the nearby town of Frosinone by posting a “Musicians Wanted” advertisement on Facebook, completing the lineup that would go on to international stardom.

What is the concept behind Thomas Raggi’s solo album ‘Masquerade’?

The concept for Masquerade was to create a collaborative rock album that bridges generations. Thomas Raggi was inspired by projects like Slash’s solo album, where various iconic vocalists and musicians were featured. He described the ethos as an effort “to put different generations together,” blending his style with those of his heroes and peers. Produced by Tom Morello, the album was recorded in an old-school, live-in-the-studio environment to capture raw, spontaneous energy.

Who are some of the major artists Thomas Raggi collaborated with on ‘Masquerade’?

Masquerade features a staggering list of rock luminaries. The album was produced by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) and includes performances by Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) on drums, Serge Pizzorno (Kasabian), Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) on a cover of “You Spin Me Round,” and vocal contributions from Luke Spiller (The Struts), Maxim (The Prodigy), and Nic Cester (Jet), among others. The collaborations were often spontaneous and driven by shared passion.

Does Thomas Raggi’s solo work mean the end of Måneskin?

Absolutely not. Thomas Raggi and his bandmates have been clear that their solo projects are a temporary creative exploration during a planned break. Raggi has stated that the band will “of course… come back and write new music,” and he believes the individual experiences will make their future collective work even more powerful. Måneskin is viewed as a permanent, foundational family unit from which its members can healthily branch out and then return.