Penza (Russian: Пе́нза; IPA: [ˈpʲenzə]) is a city and the administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia, located on the Sura River, 625 kilometers (388 mi) southeast of Moscow. Population: 517,137 (2010 Census preliminary results); 518,025 (2002 Census); 542,612 (1989 Census).

The city is served by the Penza Airport.

Penza was founded in 1663 as a frontier outpost on the then southeastern border of Russia.^{[citation needed]} It bears the name of the river that it was originally built upon. As it was originally a frontier city, most houses were built of wood and the town developed without any master plan. During the 18th century, Penza became an important trade center.

In 1774, the insurgent army led by Yemelyan Pugachev occupied Penza after the citizens of the city welcomed the rebellious Cossacks. The first stone houses started to appear after 1801, and by 1809 Penza's population had grown to more than 13,000 people.

In 1918, Vladimir Lenin sent a telegram to communists in the Penza area, complaining about the "insurrection of five kulak districts". He urged the public hanging of 100 "landlords, richmen, bloodsuckers", grain seizure, and hostage taking. This telegram has been used in several historical works on the period and on Lenin. During the Russian Civil War, the Czechoslovak Legions launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising in Penza.

Ruslan Karimovich Nigmatullin (Russian: Руслан Каримович Нигматуллин, Tatar Cyrillic: Руслан Кәрим улы Нигъмәтуллин, Latin: Ruslan Kərim ulı Niğmətullin) (born 7 October 1974 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Soviet Union) is a retired association footballer who played goalkeeper of Tatar ethnicity. He has appeared for the Russian national team 24 times (including 5 Olympic appearances) and was their starting keeper at the 2002 World Cup. He was voted Russian Player of the Year 2001 and is considered the best Russian goalkeeper of this period.

Despite officially retiring from football in February 2006, in September 2008, Nigmatullin decided to make a deal with FC SKA Rostov-on-Don, Russian club from First Division. After playing for another year for 3 different clubs, he retired again in November 2009.

Nigmatullin signed with Israeli club, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth for the 2009–10 season. His start was a shaky one but his performance improved over the weeks as he acclimated to Israel. Nevertheless, he requested to leave the club in November 2009.

Pino Daniele (born 19 March 1955) is an Italian vocalist, composer, and musician, whose influences cover a wide number of genres, fusing pop, blues, jazz, Italian and Middle eastern music into his own unique brand of world music.

Graduating in accounting, Pino began his musical career in the band "Batracomiomachia", then in 1976 he became the bass player with the Napoli Centrale, where he met James Senese. Later in 1976 Claudio Poggi, producer of EMI Italian, listened to a demo tape containing various original tracks by the then young Daniele, deciding to offer a deal with the label. Already mid-year, he recorded a 45-rpm vinyl containing the tracks "Che calore" (originally titled "Ca Calore", being his trademark Neapolitan dialect) and "Fortunato".

"Terra mia", his debut album of 1977 containing tracks from the previous single, demonstrates the singer's deep connection with the Neapolitan and Mediterranean traditions, both in the music and in the lyrics, which sometimes cover songs and popular customs typically Neapolitan. Among the most successful tracks of the album are without doubt "Terra mia", but particularly "Na tazzullella 'e cafè" (A small cup of coffee), highly played by Renzo Arbore on his show "Alto gradimento" (High satisfaction) and "Napule è" (Naples is…), which in time would become a true manifesto for the author (who wrote it at just 18 years of age) and for the entire city of Naples.