Past editions artist

Tony Binarelli

On our stage at:

2008 2010 2011 2012 FISM Italy 2015

Tony Binarelli, born in Rome in 1940, fell for magic at just twelve. He started out in cinema as a "hand double" in films such as Spirits of the Dead (Tre passi nel delirio) and Trinity Is Still My Name, then moved into television, and from the early 1970s he captured the public's attention as "the Illusionist". To stand apart from the stereotype of the tailcoated magician producing doves, he chose mentalism, which suited his personality and the mood of the time.

His impossible challenges, from predicting events to driving blindfolded and catching a bullet in his teeth, repeatedly made the national papers. He won FISM world awards in Baden-Baden in 1967 and Amsterdam in 1970, an IBM award in Monte Carlo in 1973, the Tannen's Award in New York in 1992 and the Tenkai Prize in Tokyo in 1993, the only European illusionist to receive it. Author of many books, including Playmagic, Class Act and My Way to Mentalism, and of famous effects such as Lips, he gave Italian magic the magazine Qui Magia and the professional course in San Martino di Castrozza.

Binarelli was a guest of honour at the Masters of Magic Convention in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and at the FISM World Championship of Magic in Rimini 2015. He died in Rome on 12 July 2022.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This page is part of our historical archive: it tells the story of the PAST editions. The 2027 cast is revealed one name at a time on the Artists page.