Famous Italian Songs to Help You Learn the Language

Italy is famous for producing some of the best (and most questionable) music the world has ever heard. From solo artists, electronic acts, opera singers, to rock bands. Listening to Italian music and studying the lyrics is a fun and exciting way to learn the language. In this post, I have chosen some of the most famous Italian songs with catchy refrains that can help you with your studies.

Italian Songs

Mia Martini – Almeno tu nell’universo

Lyrics

Tu, tu che sei diverso  / Almeno tu nell’universo / Non cambierai / Dimmi che sarai sempre sincero \ e che mi amerai davvero di più, di più, di più

You, you are not like everyone else / At least you, in the whole universe / Swear that you will not change / that you will always be honest / and that you will really love me, more and more.


I still get goosebumps when I listen to this classic song by Italian singer Mia Martini. She sings about people and the way they change, as she hopes that at least her lover will always be honest with her.

Gino Paoli – Il Cielo in Una Stanza

Lyrics

Quando sei vicino a me / questo soffitto viola / no, non esiste più… / io vedo il cielo sopra noi

When you are close to me / this purple roof / it doesn’t exist anymore/ and I can see the sky above us


A classic Italian song written and performed by Gino Paoli, famous for his bittersweet love songs. In this song, he imagines being with his lover in a room that magically becomes a landscape filled with trees and a blue sky.

Elisa – A modo tuo

Lyrics

A modo tuo / Andrai a modo tuo / Camminerai e cadrai, ti alzerai sempre a modo tuo

Your way / You will go your way / You will walk and fall, and you will rise again, always your way


This song is about the difficulty that parents have in seeing their children go their own way once they grow up.


Negramaro – Meraviglioso

Lyrics

Meraviglioso / Ma come non ti accorgi / Di quanto il mondo sia / Meraviglioso

Marvelous / Can’t you see? / This world is marvelous

Hailing from southern Italy, Negroamaro are a beloved rock-pop band best known for their catchy refrains and lighthearted lyrics.

Learning from Italian songs, the right way

Listening to Italian music is one thing, but actively reading the lyrics and saving key vocabulary will really give your studying a boost.

The easiest way to save your music, read the lyrics, and save your words is to use LingQ. Here’s what it looks like on my mobile device. For this example, I’m using the song Almeno tu nell’universo.

As you can see, I can listen to the song on my mobile device, look up the words, save them, and much more. Using LingQ, importing music takes seconds. All I needed were the lyrics (which are easy to find) and the audio of the track.

To find out more about importing content using LingQ, check out this guide. Best of all, it doesn’t have to be music, it can be audio books, videos, blogs, and more.

Give LingQ a try today and learn Italian from content you love. The app also comes with 100s of Italian lessons (audio and text) that have been created by native speakers. It’s the best way to immerse yourself in the language without having to go overseas.

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Luca Sammartino is an Italian content writer and translator. He has studied English and Spanish in high school and university.