By now you all know how great my love of Italian music is. And if you don’t, well, feel free to check out the Italian Playlist page for an explanation as to why I love it so much.
I’ve just created a new playlist entitled Grandi Canzoni D’Amore, or Great Love Songs made up of songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s – most of which I was forced to listen to as a kid on my Italian Babbo’s (Dad’s) cassette tapes, 45s and LPs. (Do people even know what those are any more?!) Other songs weren’t introduced to me by Babbo (I actually introduced some of them to him) but by friends in Italy and bring back memories of many afternoons and evenings spent sipping Prosecco at my favourite hangout in Siena.
Some of the singer-songwriters on the playlist have been writing, singing and performing music for more than four decades and they’re still bravissimi (great). My 70-year-old Nonna still marvels at Gianni Morandi’s “straight, white, beautiful” teeth! I tried to include as many original video clips as I could, purely for entertainment purposes. (Would you look at the hair on Claudio Baglioni!)
Along with my Dad and my Nonni (grandparents) I’ve been lucky enough to even see some of these guys in concert, yes, all the way across the pond here in Canada. Who? Toto Cutugno and Gianni Morandi, for starters, both of whom appear on this new playlist.
Take a listen, and I hope you enjoy!
Buon ascolto!
Not Just Another "Dolce Vita" 
I love the songs from that period too. I was born in Italy (Near Venice) but have lived in Sydney Australia all my life. Having been dragged to my parents’ social club in my pre-teen years, I remember all the singers from that period incl. Morandi, Adriano Celentano, Bobby Solo etc. I’ve started a blog called ‘The Good the Bad and the Italian’ which has lots of family memories. My latest blogpost – about Gina Lollobrigida – is here. cheers. http://ambradambra.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/as-the-tomato-said-to-the-actress/
Thanks for commenting and leaving the link to your blog. I checked it out the other day and I enjoy your stories! Where exactly were you born? Do you go back to Italy often?
I was born in Trieste, on the north Adriatic, near the Slovenian border. It’s a wonderful city with an intriguing history and I haven’t been going back as regularly as I used to, but hopefully will go next year.
I was in Trieste this summer – a lovely city and a beautiful part of the country!
It’s really off the beaten track and lots of travellers never go past Venice. Pity! On the Great Italian Love songs theme, in 1997 I was in Vicenza with my mother, having dinner atop the hill at Monte Berico when I heard singing coming from the town below. It was a Bobby Solo song and I thought “Mmm, whoever is singing, is doing a pretty good impression of a song I remember from the ’70s. The next day I found out that it was actually Bobby Solo who had been performing at the concert”. Had I known earlier I would have been down there for sure.
Cool! Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂