In 1976 guitarist Sal Settis joined a guitar trio called “Gruppo Portici”, releasing a few albums of finger-picking style guitar and performing with his band in various clubs, festivals and theatres in northern Italy.

After his Diploma in classical guitar at the “G. Verdi” Music Conservatory in Turin in 1980, he published a guitar method book which dealt with various styles such as blues, ragtime, classical and contemporary.

In 1983 he attended the G.I.T. (Guitar Institute of Technology) in Hollywood, California specializing in jazz guitar with Joe Diorio, Don Mock, Ron Echete, Les Wise, Joe Pass and Lenny Breau, amongst others.

Back in Italy, over the next few years he deepened his interest in jazz harmony by attending the “Arrangement for Big Band” program at the “Scuola di Musica Popolare di Testaccio” in Rome and performing with various American and Italian jazz musicians.

In 1992 he was awarded the “Herb Alpert” scholarship at the “University of Southern California” in Los Angeles where, while specializing in “Jazz Guitar Trio”, he studied with Joe Diorio, Richard Smith, Larry Koonse, James Findlay, Paul Larose, Sid Jackobs and Shelton Berg, amongst others. He also improved his knowledge of jazz guitar harmony with Ron Eschete and Ted Green.

Besides his performing activity, he has been teaching classical and jazz guitar in various schools in northern and central Italy for many years and he held the post of “Guitar Harmony” teacher at the “Universita’ della Musica” in Rome.

He has performed as a soloist in various clubs and venues in Italy, California, France, French Polynesia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brazil.

In 2014, he released a solo album in Brazilian style titled: “Luiza…and other songs by A.C. Jobim” together with a book containing the transcriptions of the pieces.

Finally, in 2024, he completed a revised and expanded edition of his “Finger-picking Guitar Method”, which is also available on this site in both print format and, in its various components, as digital files.