RCA Italiana was an Italian record company founded in 1949 and active until 1987, the date on which, together with the parent company RCA Records, it was bought by BMG Entertainment.
History
Founded in Rome in 1949 under the Vatican's protection and with its historic location which housed the recording studios on Via Tiburtina, the record company closed around 1990 and was absorbed with its parent company by the Bertelsmann Music Group. Releases from the earlier part of the unit's existence were largely of imports of records that were made by its American parent, including Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte, with the few recordings of Italian origin being contributed by Domenico Modugno, Nilla Pizzi and Katyna Ranieri.
RCA subsequently signed such artists as Nico Fidenco, Gianni Meccia, Jimmy Fontana, Edoardo Vianello, Rita Pavone, Nada, Gianni Morandi, and Tony Del Monaco, who all would become prominent forces of the Italian record scene. At that time, the best-selling single was "Il mondo", a tune launched by the contest Un disco per l'estate in 1965, written and sung by Jimmy Fontana.