A PRESTON man who was born in Italy is keeping his family's musical tradition alive by playing the accordion.

Now Franco Cornacchione, 53, of Levensgarth Avenue, wants to sell a hand-crafted Italian accordion for a staggering £2,700 and use the cash to design a new one.

Father-of-two Franco moved to the UK with his parents when he was a young boy.

But his parents encouraged him to keep up certain Latin traditions and his dad gave him an accordion. "When I first came here I couldn't speak English so instead of going to the park with friends I taught myself to play on an old accordion that my father gave me," Franco said.

Throughout his musical career Franco has rubbed shoulders with many big music names including Freddie Garrity of '60s group, Freddie and the Dreamers, who is still his good friend today.

But locally the musician is best known for being a member of the folk group Three Dimensions which played at venues in Preston and Blackpool.

In the band Franco played all types of music on the accordion from Russian folk music to Beatles hits.

"It surprises people that I do country and western and Abba as well as the more traditional styles," Franco said.

These days Franco is a regular in a Southport Italian restaurant where he entertains the likes of football pundit Alan Hansen and Liverpool soccer legend Kenny Dalglish.

But now the talented musician is looking to sell one of his many accordions, shipped over from a family business in his homeland, and design a new accordion himself.

He said: "They are beautiful, the one I have at the moment is the Rolls Royce of accordions. Although I have plans to design my own with the Italian flag on!"

If you are interested in finding out more about Franco's accordion for sale call him on 01772 864037.