Before the world knew the voice that touched millions of hearts, Ignazio Boschetto was just a boy singing to the wind and sunsets in his native Sicily. He would spend his days in Marsala, a town on the western coast, with his family and friends, his passion for music a quiet, driving force. But there was one moment — so beautiful that it left the audience speechless. And that moment changed everything.

Ignazio’s prodigious talent was evident from a very young age. He would sing operatic arias alone in his room, much to the surprise of his parents. He began participating in local song festivals and competitions, but it was his appearance on the Italian talent show “Ti lascio una canzone” in 2009 that would alter his destiny forever. On that show, he was placed with two other young talents, Piero Barone and Gianluca Ginoble.

The moment that changed everything came during an early episode of the show. The three young singers were asked to perform together for the first time, singing the classic Neapolitan song “O Sole Mio.” Before this, they had been solo artists, but as their three voices, a tenor, another tenor, and a baritone, intertwined in perfect harmony, the entire audience, and indeed the people watching at home, were left speechless.

The sound was pure, powerful, and breathtakingly beautiful. Ignazio’s lyric tenor, clear and bright, blended seamlessly with Piero’s more dramatic spinto tenor and Gianluca’s rich baritone. It was a fusion of voices that sounded ancient and new all at once, a collective sound that was far greater than the sum of its parts. In that moment, the concept of Il Volo was born. The show’s director, Roberto Cenci, had the idea of putting them together permanently, creating a trio reminiscent of the legendary Three Tenors.

That single performance of “O Sole Mio” didn’t just win a contest; it launched a global phenomenon. It was the moment that proved Ignazio Boschetto was not just a talented boy singing to the Sicilian sunsets, but a voice destined to touch millions of hearts around the world, forever flying high with his two brothers.