Italian pianist, composer, writer, entrepreneur, and conductor Francesco Libetta was born in Salento — the "heel" of Italy. Libetta's name began circulating among the piano cognoscenti after his astonishing traversal of Godowsky's fifty-three studies based on Chopin's Études; Libetta was the very first to play them all live (Milan, Florence, Naples), even in a single concert (Tokyo, Brasilia, Miami). His repertoire encompasses a broad range, Mozart and Beethoven concertos, the complete Handel and Chopin works, and major works by Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel, and other composers from Renaissance to avant-garde. His recordings include all of Beethoven's piano Sonatas (first performed in Italy in 1993/94, recorded in 2020); Godowsky's 53 Studies on Chopin's Studies; complete piano Sonatas by Paisiello, Liszt (Transcendental Etudes and Années de pèlérinage), F. d'Avalos (who dedicated all his solo piano pieces to him.) One of Libetta's DVDs, a recording of a recital held at the Festival de La Roque d'Anthéron (France) in 2002, created by Bruno Monsaingeon (the acclaimed documentary maker of Glenn Gould and Sviatoslav Richter) was awarded the Diapason d'Or and the CHOC de Le Monde de la Musique. Other awards of Libetta's recordings: Raccomandé par Classique, Amadeus d'oro, 5 stelle di MUSICA.

Critics have consistently given Libetta the highest accolades: F. M. Colombo wrote (in Corriere della Sera) of "a dusting of refinement [...] that we thought was lost in the archives of piano interpretation." According to La Tribune de Genève (L. Sabbatini) it is "figure-culte" and to El nuevo País it is "a historical case of ability" (R. Poleo). P. Isotta called him a "profound musician and a pianist of culture" due to "a freedom and pianistic authority at the same time that make him without any comparison in the world" (Corriere della Sera) and "the greatest living pianist" (in Altri canti di Marte, Marsilio 2015).