Vespa Tunes XI: Grazie Roma, Antonello Venditti, 1983.

Antonello Venditti is a certain romanitas personified, and I think he’s beyond super. As I mentioned in my second Vespa Tune he was present at the first proper date I went on with Massimo in June 2001. That distant dawn of the new millennium—pre-9/11, people used phones to make calls, and social media hadn’t been thought of—was a different world.

The view from the Benedictine Sacro Speco at Subiaco, Easter Saturday 2023.

Since then Venditti has provided a significant part of the soundtrack of my life here. I feel like I learned his songs entirely through osmosis: the product of a gentle but constant sottofondo seeping from tinny radios at mechanics’ garages, ignored televisions in high corners of coffee bars, taxi drivers turning the radio up when a favoured song comes on. I like him so much that in June, on a last minute whim, we went to see him play with Francesco De Gregori at the Stadio Olimpico.

Today is Easter Sunday, and a battery of church bells are ringing out across my neighbourhood as I write. Which reminded me of his 1983 song Grazie Roma, when as in 2001 (the only other occasion was 1942, it’s a big deal) AS Roma won the scudetto. It has the added bonus of having the single best music video of any song I’ve ever seen, keep an eye out for the white piano inside the Colosseum: I feel 1983 with its shoulders, big sunglasses, and abundant hair may have been the ultimate year for the truest expression of romanitas. This video is the phenomenon distilled, enjoy it at its apogee!

As ever, here’s my functional if not poetic translation:

Dimmi cos'è
Che ci fa sentire amici anche se non ci conosciamo
Dimmi cos'è
Che ci fa sentire uniti anche se siamo lontani
Dimmi cos'è, cos'è
Che batte forte, forte, forte in fondo al cuore
Che ci toglie il respiro
E ci parla d'amore

Tell me what it is

Which makes us feel like friends even if we don’t know each other

Tell me what it is

Which makes us feel together even if we’re apart

Tell me what it is, what it is

That beats strong, strong, strong in the depths of the heart

That takes our breath away

And speaks to us of love

Grazie Roma
Che ci fai piangere abbracciati ancora
Grazie Roma
Grazie Roma
Che ci fai vivere e sentire ancora
Una persona nuova

Thank you Roma

For making us cry while still embracing

Thank you Roma

Thank you Roma

For making us live and feel

like a new person again

Dimmi cos'è, cos'è
Quella stella grande grande in fondo al cielo
Che brilla dentro di te
E grida forte, forte dal tuo cuore

Tell me what it is, what it is

That big big star in the depths of the sky

That shines inside you

And shouts loudly from your heart

Grazie Roma
Che ci fai piangere abbracciati ancora
Grazie Roma
Grazie Roma
Che ci fai vivere e sentire ancora
Una persona nuova

Thank you Roma

For making us cry while still embracing

Thank you Roma

Thank you Roma

For making us live and feel

like a new person again

Dimmi chi è
Che me fa sentì 'mportante anche se nun conto niente
Che me fa re quando sento le campane la domenica mattina

Dimmi chi, è chi è
Che me fa campà sta vita così piena de problemi
E che me da coraggio
Se tu non me voi bene

Tell me who it is

Who makes me feel important even if I don’t count at all

Who makes me feel like a king when I hear the church bells on a Sunday morning

Tell me who it is, who it is

Who helps me get through this life so full of problems

And gives me courage

If you don’t care

Grazie Roma
Che ci fai piangere abbracciati ancora
Grazie Roma
Grazie Roma
Che ci fai vivere e sentire ancora
Una persona nuova

Thank you Roma

For making us cry while still embracing

Thank you Roma

Thank you Roma

For making us live and feel

like a new person again

Buona Pasqua! Agnes