Okay- so my planning for my trip to Italy is becoming an obsession. Since I am feeling the love and a lot of kindred spirits, I have to ask... what is the best/favorite music that you use to get you in the mood for Italy and why. This could be a lot of fun as I download onto my ipod for before during and after my trip. Don't be shy, please include any type of music from traditional to new stuff, italian jazz to opera. Run the gamut, go wild and get me (and maybe others) in the mood.

Dawn

Um...I'm playing the soundtrack to Under the Tuscan Sun over and over and over and...
Sometimes just for a change I play the soundtrack to Room With a View and if I had the soundtrack to Tea With Mussolini I guess I would play that too.
Leslie
(4.30pm in Canberra)

I have been meaning to post about this, so glad you asked!

A friend recently gave us a CD by Andrea Bocelli called Amore. We took it on our recent trip to France and must have played it 50 times just in the past month. We absolutely love him and this particular CD. Every song is beautiful.

This is PERFECT mood music for Italy!

Kathy

I also like Bocelli... Sogno..

Great mood music, especially when you come back!!

Doug

Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Donizetti... repeat as necessary.


Ginger

I bought the three tenors, Verdi's Aida and in honor of the Opera that I will see in Verona, Carmen. I found Nada's site that also list some contemporary Italian music and will probably buy some of that as well.

Dawn

quote:

and must have played it 50 times

Kathy, my sister saw him here in Australia and he is her new favorite so we too played it continually, but through Italy, not France
I also play a lot of Enya as she gives you little messages that spur you on like: "sail away", which I translate to "get thee to Italy" and also "seize the day" which, by coincidence, I also actually translate to "get thee to Italy".
Leslie (7.15am)

I've just downloaded some music by Nicola Piovani, who has composed the music for many Italian films (and he is a relative of one of our moderators ). I'm listening now and it makes me feel as if I am on my way.

M

I just found a 3 disc set of traditional Italian music called Romantic Italy at Barnes and Noble. I will stop into my local one to see if we have it in stock here before I order online. It looks like it has mandolin music, folk music from Naples and classics like O Sole Mio, etc. I will give feedback on its worth after I have checked it out.

Dawn

For Kathy and Doug, and the other Bocelli Fans...this was from the Today show in Torino:

Bocelli is performing in Atlantic City on June 17...

Can't make it though and I love the power in his voice.

FYI... at home...it is Bocelli and of course, Pavarotti!! Judith also has a CD of Lanza.

Allora... La casa di Italiana!!! Ecco!

Doug

I love the song "Cosi Celeste" by Zucchero. We used it with our Italy photo slide show and the song went perfectly with our photos.

Another song that I remember listening to on my iPod on the way over was "Send Me On My Way" by Rusted Root. It's such a lively upbeat song that, as Leslie said, seems to say "get thee to Italy"

-Krista

Ah, Diana,
I saw that portion of the Today show, and I even saw YOU!!
My favorite mood music is mostly Bocelli.

I just bought Divo, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Too much instrumental and too many English lyrics. Some tracks were great, but not enough for me to recommend the CD.

Arcticshark, when are you headed to Italy? Have you posted your trip on the calendar?

DMae

DMae- I have posted on the calendar. I am heading over in August. See, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the forum... I have always dreamed of trekking the walker's Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. So, I found a kick a** female British guide that has been living in Chamonix. She planned the trek for mid-August. Then two of my girlfriends said that they were going to be in Rome toward the end of August. I thought it would be great if I could meet up with them and have a girl get together. So I decided to do some filler and see some of the rest of Italy while waiting for my girlfriends to arrive. Then I started looking into tickets and found Condor Airlines. Since they are a charter, I ended up extending out my trip to fit within their flight schedule. So one thing lead to another and now a 9 day trek through the Swiss Alps has turned into a four week Italian Oddessey. I was trying to make a long story short but ended up making my short story long.

Dawn

i shall never forget hearing Bocelli sing as we cruised away from Venice---a very haunting thing and to remember Venice by that!!

Well, now Bocelli is coming to American Idol! (Okay, I confess!!)

Next week he will be "coaching" the six remaining contestants who will sing "Greatest Love Songs" on Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday Bocelli will sing live on the results show.

Rod Stewart this week was great!

Kathy

Elio e le storie tese!

And lest we forget, the Beachboys with "Still cruisin' after all of these years".
Leslie.

Kathy, Really? Bocelli on Idol? Can't wait. I confess too. I love Idol! How cool will that be? 29 days and counting until Italy...

So Palma-- and I know this is away from our official topic-- who are you rooting for?

(And Rar, what in the world did you say?! )

Kathy

"Downtown" brings back memories of our 1966 visit to Rome. There was a sidewalk cafe a short distance from our hotel and we heard that song several times each night.

"Arrivederci Roma" takes me back to the restaurant in Tivoli where were had a lovely meal (2002) and enjoyed the farewell of a tour group that was at the end of their adventure.

Kaydee, I had to google it
It's the name of a group.
Leslie.

Elio e le storie tese are a very popular rock group. Zany, funny songs. Probably the most unique group in Italy. Their best song, imo, is "Fossi Figo" [I Would Be Cool]:

Fossi figo guiderei una grande jeep [I would be cool if I drove a big Jeep}
fino in disco, attesissimo in zona V.I.P.[to the disco, to the VIP room]
il mio nome sarebbe sempre incluso nella lista[if my name was always on the list]
non dico proprio il primo della lista[not necessarily on top of the list]
ma neanche l'ultimo degli stronzi.[but not at the end of the a**holes either]

Or "La Follia della Donna" [The Woman's Folly]

Non hai mai pensato a un tatuaggetto [You've never thought of a tattoo]
la tua amica sfoggia un tatuaggetto[but your girlfriend is showing off hers]
corri, corri a farti un tatuaggetto[run, run to get yours]
d'improvviso hai bisogno di un tatuaggetto, un tatuaggetto, un tatuaggetto.[you need a tattoo, tattoo, tattoo]
D'un tratto non ti piace più,[and if in a little while you don't like it?]
che fai? Lo togli, non puoi.[what do you do? get rid of it? you can't]
Ne fai un altro più grosso.[You get another one even bigger]

It's much funnier when you listen to it

And I like Paolo Conte, Ramozzotti, Laura Pausini and Tiziano Ferro, (and Bocelli ) even when I'm NOT planning a trip.

The sound track from Big Night is fun too.

I'm starting to pack for my trip and as I was ironing last night I had an overwhelming urge to listen to music from the 80's.

I played The English beat, The clash, The stranglers, Big country, XTC, Elvis Costello and lots of others. All this music is what I was listening to in High School and haven't heard much of it since.

Then it hit me; this is what I was listening to when I went on my first big trip. I went on a 10 day trip to London with my High School criminal justice class. What an experience.

So,though it may not make me think of Italy per se, I sure felt that same excitement as getting ready to travel for the first time.

Colleen