Pitura Freska was a reggae music group based in Venice, Italy, consisting of "Sir" Oliver Skardy (Gaetano Scardicchio, the group's leader), Francesco Duse, Cristiano Verardo, Marco Forieri, and Valerio Silvestri. The name is a slight corruption of the Italian phrase pittura fresca ("wet paint"). The band was formed in 1989 and was disbanded in 2002, after selling over half a million records. Their repertoire included many songs in Venetian language, as well as in Italian. Their greatest hit was "Papa Nero" ("Black Pope"), which made it to the 1997 Sanremo Music Festival.