Time’s getting short! If you’re still looking for the perfect gift for someone who loves Rome, we suggest you click on over to iTunes and buy the following songs. Burn them onto a CD, call it the Roma Eterna Playlist, and you’ll have the perfect gift–without even leaving the house!
Some of the songs on the list are old classics, others are newer releases, but all are chosen for their ability to evoke some aspect of the Eternal City. Happy Listening!
1) Abba, Mamma Mia.
We know, we know. They’re Swedish, not Italian, and the song’s about almost nothing. But you couldn’t ask for a catchier rendition of that emphatic expression one hears all over the streets of Rome.
2) Morcheeba, Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
A mellow contemporary tune by a British band that mixes influences from trip hop, rock, rhythm and blues and pop.
3) Bruno Martini, Bella Roma
Quanto sei bella Roma! Ciao Roma.
4) Ruth Wallis, Pizza
“I marry a nice young handsome fella, he don’t care much for moozzarella, he likes a little pizza every night.” We fall on the floor with laughter every time we hear this song from Wallis’s album, Boobs.
5) Bianca Morales, The Heart of Rome (Trastevere)
Jazz vocalist Morales is half Finnish and half Afro-Cuban but she obviously loves Rome like we do.
6) Pink Martini, Aspettami
A lovely little ballad from the “little orchestra” from Portland, Oregon. heir music has often been described as “vintage music”, a descriptive which reflects the content, style and period inspiring many of their songs.
7) Marilyn Rucker, Last Day of Pompeii
“On the Last Day of Pompeii, thought I heard some poor boy say, ‘Oh wow man, if I knew then what I know now’….Now Vesuvio’s come to call. Arrivederci. I had a ball.”
8) Pink Martini, Una Notte a Napoli.
More from the always wonderful Pink Martini. We love the little story told in this catchy tune.
9) Bella Ciao, Pasta Song
Dare you to get this one out of your head: “I think it’s nearly supper time. I’m gonna pour myself some wine. And sit down to a big plate of pasta tonight. It doesn’t matter what it costs. I gotta get some pesto sauce. To put on my big plate of pasta tonight.” You’ll be listening over and over!
10) Rosemary Clooney, Botch-a-Me
Originally written in 1941 by Riccardo Morbelli and Luigi Astore. English lyrics were written by Eddie Stanley. But it was Rosemary Clooney who really made it popular in 1952.
11) The Nelsonics, The Ruins of Rome
In 2005, The Nelsonics, Milwaukee’s foremost purveyors of surf and soul music, decided to get a little crazy and try something new–they added words to their songs and this was the result.
12) Bella Ciao, Blue Italian Skies
A little accordian, a fabulous female lead, and a hit album called Legends of the Italian Lounge. That’s Bella Ciao and we love ‘em.
13) Dean Martin, Volare
What what a Rome mix be without blu dipinto da blu?
14) Bella Ciao, Bella Ciao
Get radical. In World War II, Bella Ciao was sung by the left anti-fascist resistance movement in Italy comprised of anarchists, communists, socialists and other anti-fascist partisans.
15) Rosemary Clooney, Mambo Italiano
Rosemary Clooney, hit the carts with this in 1954 in the United States and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart early in 1955.
16) Castellina-Pasi, In Trattoria
‘Nuff said. Who would want to be anywhere else but in a trattoria?
17) Dean Martin, Arrivederci Roma
The song Pizza (number 4 above) may leave us rolling on the ground laughing, but this one leaves us in tears, every time.
