Are you excited to listen to these beautiful, romantic Italian songs?
Would you like to take a closer look at their sweet, endearing lyrics?
Here, you'll find an Italian language tip based on the lyrics of each song, to enhance your Italian language skills with music!
Language tip: “Luce dei miei occhi“
In this song, Jovanotti uses a beautiful, endearing expression to address his wife: “Luce dei miei occhi“. The most literal translation of this expression is “Light of my eyes“. It is an expression often used to convey deep affection and love for someone: the person being referred to brings so much joy to the speaker's life that their eyes shine!
The meaning of this sentence is close to the English expression “Apple of my eye“, which doesn't translate directly into Italian: in Italian, calling someone “La mela (apple) del mio occhio” would arise a couple of confusing stares!
Language tip: “Avere ragione” and “avere torto“
In this song, Francesca Michielin describes the universal power of love, saying that love is neither wrong, nor right.
Unlike English, in Italian, the concept of “to be right/wrong” is expressed with the verb “avere” (to have), and not with the verb “essere” (to be). “Avere ragione” means “to be right”, while “avere torto” means “to be wrong”.
Here is an additional example:
“Io ho ragione, e tu hai torto” (I am right, and you are wrong).
Language tip: “Girotondo“
In this song, Elisa beautifully captures the bittersweet emotion of watching her daughter grow into her own person, coming to terms with the fact that she won't be able to shield her forever. In these lines, Elisa mentions watching her daughter doing her own “girotondo” – this refers to the nursery rhyme known as “Ring Around the Rosie” in English!
Did you know that this rhyme has its own Italian version?
Here are the lyrics, with their English translation:
Giro, giro, tondo,
Turn, turn, around,
casca il mondo,
the world falls down
casca la Terra,
the Earth falls down
tutti giù per terra!
everybody, down on the ground!
The melody works exactly as in English, so… try to sing it in Italian, next time you play!