# Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula...

Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula... is a double studio album by Italian singer Mina, released in October 1985 by PDU and distributed by EMI Italiana.

## Overview

The record continues Mina's collaboration with Paolo Frajese's program Trent'anni della nostra storia (Thirty Years of Our History) about the history of RAI broadcasting company. For this album, the singer recorded cover versions of famous songs from the 1970s, both foreign and Italian. All of them are placed in the first volume of the album. According to tradition, the second volume of the album includes only new songs.
For the album, Mina recorded a duet with Riccardo Cocciante called "Questione di feeling". The song was released as a single and became number two on the Italian chart. It was also used as the theme song of the Mike Bongiorno's TV show Pentatlon. The song was also later recorded by Mina in 2007 in Spanish as a duet with Tiziano Ferro for the album Todavía. The song "Eppur mi son scordato di te" was first sung live as part of a medley with Lucio Battisti in 1972 for the show Teatro 10.
For the first time, the album was released simultaneously on vinyl, CDs and cassettes, and both "Vol. 1" + "Vol. 2" editions and individual parts of the album were sold. In the Italian album chart, Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula... reached the second position, in total, it spent seventeen weeks on the chart. In Argentina, the album was released as Finalmente ru conocido al conde Dracula... and with a different cover (only the first volume of the album was contained), the album was also released in Greece and Switzerland.

## Critical reception

Gino Castaldo from La Repubblica noted that Mina is an "excellent interpreter of classics" and "nothing can resist her talent to transform even average songs into masterpieces." He also praised the new material and suggested that Mina returns to the game with fashionable trends and a more commercial product.
In 2015, the magazine Panorama named Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula... one of the ten essential albums by Mina. In 2018, Rolling Stone magazine placed it on the 8th place in the list of Mina's most underrated albums. The reviewer noted that a sublime and ever-changing Mina can be found here, and thanks to the gloomy atmosphere, he called it the twilight zone of her discography.

## Personnel

* Mina – vocals, backing vocals
* Massimiliano Pani – arrangement (A1–B5), backing vocals, guitar (C1–D5)
* Mario Robbiani – arrangement (A1–B5), keyboards
* Vince Roll – arrangement (C1–C4, D5)
* Giovanni Tommaso – arrangement (C5-D2, D4), bass guitar
* Riccardo Cocciante – arrangement (D3), vocals (D3)
* Paul Buckmaster – arrangement (D3)
* Andy Surdi – backing vocals (A1–B5)
* Piero Cassano – backing vocals (A1–B5)
* Sam Trevino – backing vocals (A1–B5)
* Samuele Cerri – backing vocals (A1–B5)
* Ellade Bandini – drums (A1–B5), percussion (A1–B5)
* Walter Scebran – drums (A1–B5), percussion (A1–B5)
* Claudio Bazzari – guitar (A1–B5)
* Giorgio Cocilovo – guitar (C1–D5)
* Paolo Gianolio – guitar (C1–D5)
* Marco Rinalduzzi – guitar, synthesizer (C1–D5)
* Bruno De Filippi – harmonica (C1–D5)
* Danilo Rea – keyboards (A1–B5)
* Riccardo Biseo – keyboards (C1–D5)
* Roberto Zanaboni – keyboards
* Nuccio Rinaldis – recording, mixing
* Gustavo Bregoli – trumpet
* Demo Morselli – trumpet
* Moreno Fassi – trombone
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

## Charts

Chart performance for Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula... :
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
| Italian Albums (Billboard) | 5 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e dischi) | 2 |