Legendary singer Andrea Bocelli has raised a musical family of his own.
The Italian tenor welcomed two sons, Amos, 29, and Matteo, 27, with his first wife, Enrica Cenzatti. More than a decade later, he welcomed his youngest child, daughter Virginia, 12, with his then-girlfriend Veronica Berti. Andrea and Berti married in 2014 on their daughter’s 2nd birthday.
Andrea has described music as an “integral part” of the Bocelli family. He told America Domani: “We sit around a piano with the same daily frequency that we sit around our kitchen table. These are beautiful moments that we share together as a family in the house as well as on the stage.”
In addition to being their father, Andrea has also collaborated with his children on their own musical journeys. As a trio, Andrea, Matteo and Virginia released the 2022 holiday album A Family Christmas after several joint performances in the prior years. In a December 2022 interview with Classic FM, Andrea said the album was a “beautiful and amazing opportunity” to remind people about the importance of family.
“Family for me has been always the most important thing in my life,” he explained. “And for me, it’s also an incredible opportunity to work, to stay, to live with my children.”
Here’s everything to know about Andrea Bocelli’s three kids: Amos, Matteo and Virginia.
Amos Bocelli, 29
Amos Bocelli was born on Feb. 22, 1995, to Andrea and Cenzatti. Andrea’s firstborn son was named after a special person in the singer’s life. According to Andrea’s website, Amos was named after Amos Martellacci, a man from Andrea’s hometown who had mentored him in college “with generosity and determination” until the singer received his law degree.
Though Andrea has said his older son has “more of a scientific mind,” Amos still takes after Andrea in his musical abilities. In 2013, Amos accompanied his father on the piano at the Sanremo Music Festival.
He received a bachelor of arts degree in piano from the Institute of Musical Studies Luigi Boccherini. In addition to his B.A., Amos also received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Pisa and is pursuing a career as an aerospace engineer.
He has held several jobs, including internships at the European Space Agency and at the investment firm Pictet Asset Management. He’s also been on the board of directors for Almud Edizioni Musicali and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation for several years.
In February 2023, Andrea shared a birthday tribute to his eldest child, sharing a black-and-white photo of Amos helping him skateboard, captioned, “Happy birthday @amosbocelli!”
Matteo Bocelli, 27
Matteo Bocelli was born on Oct. 8, 1997, to Andrea and Cenzatti. Much like his father, Matteo is a musician. “I’ve been into music since when I was a kid,” Matteo told PEOPLE in 2018. “I was following my dad when I could, and I played the piano since I was 6 years old.”
As a child, Matteo would sing often — but only in front of his mom and not his dad because he was “a little bit shy.” At one point, he said to himself, “‘Probably it’s better if I receive maybe a little direction from my dad.’ ”
Despite his musical abilities — including studying piano at a local music school and vocal performance at the Institute of Musical Studies Luigi Boccherini in Tuscany, Italy — Matteo was initially unsure if he wanted to pursue singing.
“It was only when I met David Foster that I really considered being a singer,” he told the Gentleman’s Journal. “David has been extremely important in the development of my dad’s career and, without him, I don’t think I’d be on this path. He was the person who said to me, ‘You have the skill and the technical ability; you should be on the stage singing.’ ”
Matteo told Billboard in December 2021 that his father was “careful” having his children in the public eye, so Matteo began his singing career at charity events and in more intimate settings. After honing his craft, Matteo made his public stage debut when he was 18 and sang “Verdi” at the Colosseum in Rome in 2017. Since then, he has released a series of singles and collaborated with his father on the ballad “Fall on Me” from his 2018 album Sì.
He and his sister Virginia also joined forces with their dad on his 2022 holiday album, A Family Christmas. Andrea told PEOPLE that it was “really exciting” to collaborate with his children on the 13-track record. The trio also went on a world tour following the release of the album, a feat that was doubly thrilling for Andrea.
“We’re super happy to be all over the world,” Matteo said. His father added: “Having part of my family by my side onstage will be an extraordinary experience. The best Christmas gift I could ever receive.”
In May 2022, Matteo, along with his father, was a surprise performer at Kourtney Kardashian Barker and Travis Barker’s Italian wedding ceremony.
“It’s [was] a very emotional moment and they’re beautiful people,” he told PEOPLE.
Matteo released his debut solo album on his father’s birthday, Sept. 22, 2023.
“It’s quite funny — I swear I didn’t choose the date. It was given by the label,” he told PEOPLE ahead of its release, adding that it’s a “good gift” for his dad.
Andrea gave him a shout-out on Instagram on the day the album — MATTEO — was announced, writing: “Today is one of those days for you. After a lot of hard work, strife, worry, doubt and hope, the fruit of much labor is finally seeing the light. Your dad remembers that feeling: he knows it well.”
One of the songs on Matteo’s self-titled album is a collaboration with Ed Sheeran.
“[Ed] sent me a few songs, but the one that really, really, really I loved so much was ‘Chasing Stars,’ ” the singer told PEOPLE in July 2023. “The story was fitting so much to myself because, of course, we both had in common the fact that we were born in a family that loved music, and this passion was given from our parents.”
Though Matteo told Classic FM that music was his “first goal,” he’s also pursued acting and composing. In 2022, he made his film debut in George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing alongside Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba. Matteo was also musically involved in the film: He co-wrote several songs, including the tune “Cautionary Tale,” for the film with composer Tom Holkenborg.
Virginia Bocelli, 12
Virginia Bocelli was born to Andrea and Berti in Montepepe, Italy, on March 21, 2012. With more than a decade between his second and third child, Andrea said on his website that the age gap gave him time to learn as a parent. “I think that becoming a father again now that I’m a mature man helped me be a less anxious, stronger parent, more capable of treasuring every moment with my children as they grow up next to me every day,” he wrote.
Andrea opened up about raising a daughter after having two sons during a September 2018 interview with The Times. “From a practical point of view it’s not that different from raising sons,” he told the outlet. “We will share with her the same values that we did with them because I think the result of my sons is very good.”
In November 2022, the youngest Bocelli reflected on her childhood in an interview with San Francisco Magazine. Virginia said she couldn’t recall hearing her dad sing for the first time, but she remembered that, from a young age, she’d listen to him sing “all day around the house.” She added: “This influenced me to also sing all day around the house, but I wasn’t singing typical children’s songs. Instead, I was singing opera songs!”
Since she was a child, Virginia has followed in the rest of her family’s musical footsteps. She made her public musical debut at just 8 years old in December 2020 when she sang a duet of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen with her father as part of his Believe in Christmas livestream.
Though Virginia said she initially felt scared at the thought of performing, she received plenty of advice from her brother and father. “My dad taught me how to use my voice, and that influenced my life,” she told PEOPLE. “And Matteo told me, ‘You should sing and do everything with no regret.’ ”
In December 2023, she joined her father on Good Morning America for a performance of “Let It Snow,” singing as he played the piano. The performance came one month after Andrea released the deluxe edition of A Family Christmas.
Outside of music, Virginia has several hobbies, including modeling and gymnastics. In January 2023, she walked the runway in Monnalisa’s Fall/Winter 2023 show, per her Instagram. She also posts photos from her gymnastics competitions, including several shots from when she placed first at the junior regional championship in May 2023 and at the regional championship in Tuscany in April 2023.
Source: People
