Meet The Crew: IL BUTTA - Pavia, ITALY
"We can tell tons of stories of what happened here… nice stories"
Meet The Owner: Luigi Buttafava
Can you give us a brief history of your store?
IL BUTTA BMX was officially born in May 2010. Before that time I was a student and I worked part-time in my father’s business but I always felt depressed and unhappy about it. Starting from this status I decided to change my life, trying to express myself with what I loved most. So I left both university and my father’s job and put all my money into IL BUTTA BMX and here we are.
What type of riders are part of your community and what makes your community so special?
We are normal people with our job, our life and our issues, but we still believe in BMX, and we try to lead young guys into a lifestyle made of BMX, BMX and BMX. BMX kept us off drugs and other expensive fucking vices, so we hope the next generation will follow our path.
Our small community could be considered different from any other because we have the indoor BMX park inside our building, next to the shop. Over the years we have literally spent our life here, and everyone who rode BMX between 2010 to today, can tell tons of stories of what happened here…nice stories.
Meet The Team: Luca Bertagnolli
Age: 24
Years riding: 5
What’s your favourite BMX video?
Deadline, because it is made of 100% bangers and I really like this style.
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
Christian Rigal because his style is unique.
Tell us what’s good about your local scene.
The city of Meran recently built us a brand new skatepark in the youth centre, and this is free for everyone who wants to ride. Since then our scene has grown a lot and it’s still growing!
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram? @digbmx !!!
What’s your Instagram? @bertagnia_elsoldat
Meet The Team: Andrea Caroccia
Age: 25
Years riding: 10
What’s your favourite BMX video?
Subrosa - Get Used To It (Trailer 1) because it represents BMX in all of its aspects; pain, passion and sacrifice, but also friendship, party and fun.
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
RICH FORNE - perfect videos.
Tell us what’s good about your local scene:
My city Reggio Emilia has got a brand new concrete park after years of requests from our city crews, and now the situation is really different, we can ride every day and improve our skills.
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram? @digbmx
What’s your Instagram?@andrea.caroccia
Meet The Team: Francesco Soccol
Age: 19
Years riding: 4
What’s your favourite BMX video?
“Lew is Fiending” because I like his style a lot and because it’s a street video, and I love street riding.
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
Michele Meleddu (our good filmer for Vans The Circle project)!
Tell us what’s good about your local scene:
Our local scene is pretty small because I live on the Island of Sardinia, there are some riders in the north, some in the south and it’s pretty hard to organize something or ride altogether.
It’s necessary to have a car and drive a lot of kilometres to reach all of the guys, so I ride alone most of the time trying to use what my city, Cagliari, has to offer in the streets.
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram? @digbmx
What’s your Instagram? @francescosoccol_
Meet The Team: Christian Andrew Higgs
Age: 27
Years riding: 15
What’s your favourite BMX video?
The Webbie Show, because... Mark Webb is Mark Webb.
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
I don’t have a favourite filmer, to be honest, but I like JC Pieri.
Tell us what’s good about your local scene:
We still have an indoor (Il BUTTA BMX), so we can ride all winter when it’s raining and it’s cold.
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram?
I don’t really check Instagram pages or BMX pages so often, but I used to visit Fat (@fatbmx) and DIG (@digbmx).
What’s your Instagram? @andrew_higgs
Meet The Team: Cristian Sasso
Age: 18
Years riding: 6 years (since November 2016).
What’s your favourite BMX video?
My favourite videos are Redbull design quest 2.0 because I like the positive energy it transmits and Devon Smillie’s Éclat video part from 2018 for the same reason and the riding level.
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
My favourite filmer Is Ben Norris because I like how he uses the Fish Eye and the chosen music.
Tell us what’s good about your local scene:
I like the fact that everyone has something to teach us as we all have different styles, from park to street.
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram?
My favourites pages are Our BMX and one that is called early2000sbmx
What’s your Instagram? @krisssasso._
Meet The Filmer: Michele Meleddu
Name: Michele Meleddu
Age: 23
Years riding: 3 years (since 2019).
What’s your favourite BMX video?
Bike Parkour - Streets of San Francisco! Because it's cinema and street style together, and I love that!
Who is your favourite BMX filmer?
Devin Graham (@devinsupertramp), director of the video mentioned above, because I believe he is one of the best filmmakers ever and he always manages to show more than just what you see and hear.
Tell us what’s good about your local scene:
I'm from Brescia, Italy. I ride in a park where I meet a lot of new people, and now most of them are very good friends of mine. We are very close and we have a lot of fun together.
What’s your favourite BMX page on Instagram? @ilbuttabmx
What’s your Instagram? @michelemeleddu
