La Musica di Antonello Venditti

TramTracks is all about playing a variety of classic songs, both in English and Italian. This gives guests an opportunity to hear songs about Roma from the very people who live here every day! Antonello Venditti is one of the best. Although he isn't widely known outside of Italy, he is one of the country's most popular, and has consistently been on top of the record charts during his +40 year career!

Our very own Dave Sumner played lead guitar on the original recording of Venditti's much loved classic, Roma Capoccia, which was written in Roman dialect. Venditti wrote this song when he was only 14 years old, along with Sora Rosa and Lontana é Milano! We sing this song every Monday on TramTracks, and you will have the privilege of hearing the original guitarist play for you!

Venditti has many songs declaring his undying love for Roma, including a few about the A.S. Roma calcio squad. In honor or the team's Serie A championship win in 2001, he sang at a free concert in Circo Massimo. It attracted hundreds of thousands of fans, and filled Circo Massimo completely!

He also did a great cover of Crowded House's Don't Dream It's Over. He was very unique in that in his cover, he did not translate the lyrics - he wrote an entirely new song, entitled Alta Marea (in high waters). It is still a beautiful interpretation of the song, which you can listen to below.

Join us every Monday as we sing along to Antonello Venditti and other Roman artists, as well as many English language hits. In his honor, we pass the site of his famous 2001 concert at Circo Massimo and we play Roma Capoccia in front of the Colosseo. Don't forget to give Dave a high five for his awesome performance!