Sergio Salamini — La Tradizione dell'Ipnosi Italiana/en

Sergio Salamini is the greatest Italian hypnotist of the second half of the twentieth century, heir to a Mantuan dynasty of magicians and hypnotists founded by his father Guido Salamini. The Salamini family represents one of the rare continuities in the Italian tradition of stage hypnosis, passed down from father to son for decades. Dr. Marco Paret met Sergio Salamini in 1990, and the Salamini Technique is now part of the technical heritage of ISI-CNV as one of the distinct methods of instant hypnosis.

The family: an Italian tradition

The Salamini tradition began with Guido Salamini, Sergio's father, who died about fifty years ago. He founded the family vocation: he had himself buried alive and then exhumed, with newspaper headlines like "I go three hours into the Afterlife" and "The buried man is alive." Sergio was literally born in the theater: the first things that shaped him, he recounts in his Mantuan voice, "were the curtain, the show, the applause." The stage was his cradle.

The "Cavaliere Gianni Salamini" is also attested as a family member in sources from the era, a hypnotist active in the generation before Sergio, known for shows combining telepathy, catalepsy, and deep hypnosis.

The Salamini dynasty represents a rare case: a direct transmission of hypnotic practice from father to son, in the Italy of variety shows and popular theater, up until the 1990s.

Sergio Salamini: sixty years of career

Sergio Salamini has a career spanning at least sixty years, glocal — as he himself defines it — because he has hypnotized men and chickens across half of Europe, the United States, and Latin America, as well as in remote theaters and squares of the Italian provinces. His television appearances include Chiambretti's show "Fenomeni," the Maurizio Costanzo Show, and Enzo Tortora's "Portobello." Artists like Luciano Pavarotti greeted him with the words "Sergio, you are a true artist." Among his professional friendships are Giucas Casella and Mago Silvan.

The 2018 MagiX festival in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana presents him thus: "A true legend of magic and illusionism, heir to one of the families with the longest tradition handed down in hypnosis in Italy, for over 40 years reaping success on TV, in theaters, and in squares. Sergio Salamini show is among the greatest Italian hypnotists."

The method: instant hypnosis and catalepsy

Sergio Salamini's method is recognizable and distinct from other systems. He works mainly with live subjects, on stage, in front of the audience. His main specialties are:

Direct instant hypnosis, often without lengthy verbal inductions, with an authoritarian and physical approach. The catalepsy of human subjects: the hypnotized subject is made rigid as a board, supported on only two contact points (head and feet on two trestles), and Sergio climbs on top without the body giving way. Pain management in hypnosis: in one of the most famous episodes, he violently stomped on the foot of a skeptical medical student who came on stage to expose him, commanding him "I command you, now you will feel pain, now you will scream, now limp, now stagger..." — demonstrating voluntary control of the pain sensation.

Chicken hypnosis is his most famous signature: he held them tightly by the legs, stared into their eyes, nose to beak, and the animal would succumb to catalepsy. The technique is identical to that documented as early as the 19th century by European magnetizers (including the variant described by Di Pisa), but Salamini brought it to a rare level of showmanship and reliability.

His wife Gina Malavasi became his stage assistant and medium for the deepest sessions of the show over time.

The Salamini method in ISI-CNV teaching

The Salamini Technique is taught as a distinct method within the ISI-CNV system. Dr. Marco Paret personally encountered it in 1990, attending Sergio's performances, and recognized its value as an original approach to instant hypnosis.

It must be clearly emphasized that the Salamini method is different from the standard ISI-CNV method: it is neither the technique of Donato reworked by Di Pisa, nor the Ball of Light. It is an autonomous approach, born from the Italian tradition of popular theater, with its own characteristics that make it a distinct contribution to the school's technical heritage.

The mention in Di Pisa's book

Prof. Erminio Di Pisa includes Salamini in the list of hypnotists who "have been fundamental for the evolution of our art," alongside Donato, Lambert-Pickman, Hanussen, Wolf Messing, Bosco, Gabrielli, Ferman, and Caravelli. It is the only mention in the book — a name, no description — but the inclusion in this list by Di Pisa attests to the recognition that the Salamini family had gained in the Italian hypnosis environment.

Sources and documentation

Videos of Sergio Salamini in action are available on YouTube in the playlist «SERGIO SALAMINI IPNOSI» (7 videos, mario portolani channel), where his techniques of catalepsy, chicken hypnosis, and instant hypnosis on human subjects can be observed.

La Gazzetta di Mantova published a long portrait on the occasion of his 60-year career: «Salamini, seppellimento e ritorno: "A me gli occhi" compie 60 anni», with direct testimonies from Sergio about his birth in the theater and the figure of his father Guido.

A direct testimony of the "Cavaliere Gianni Salamini" in action can be found in the article «Ipnotismo» on Lo Spirito, which describes a performance from 1967-72 with experiments in telepathy, collective hypnosis, and jumping on broken glass.

The 2018 MagiX festival in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana presents him in the official poster as "the greatest Italian hypnotist": Giornale di Barga, August 2018.