Miriam Bunnik is a translator and Italy expert. She gained recognition with her previous book Coffee Bars and Carabinieri from 2021. Her new book is not just a travel guide through Italian classical music via famous composers like Vivaldi, it also covers popular songs like Volare, folk music, protest songs, and other genres.

The Four Seasons and O Sole Mio

Italy has played a dominant role in the history of classical music, particularly in opera. In music school, every child learns Italian terms of classical music: piano, forte, allegro, etc. The book is organized geographically across dozens of cities and regions.

We start with Guido d'Arezzo and his introduction of musical notation in the eleventh century. Then it moves to Florence and the birth of opera during the Renaissance. You won't find so many grand and small opera houses anywhere outside Italy. We wander along the canals of Venice to the strains of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

In Naples, Bunnik visits the oldest conservatory, which was originally an orphanage where music was taught. Naples is Italy squared, the italianità, Italianness par excellence. The Neapolitan O Sole Mio cannot be missing from a book about Italy and music.

Vowels

In Modena she pays tribute to tenor Luciano Pavarotti and in Cremona she reveals the secret of Stradivari's violins. When we think of Verona, we immediately think of Romeo and Juliet. But did you know that's fake? They never really existed, and certainly not in Verona. It's marketing, like the annual festival Verona in Love, a competition for love songs.

In Genoa, Bunnik searches for the origins of Italian folk songs and devotes a chapter to the poetic artistry of singer Fabrizio De André.

Why is the Italian language so musical? Bunnik learns this from linguist Ilaria Bonomi, whom she visits in Milan. Nearly all Italian words end in a vowel, and that's the secret. That final vowel creates the flow and musicality of Italian.

Half the book covers non-classical music forms. In Sicily, Bunnik becomes enchanted by cantastorie, the singing storytelling tradition in the squares of Palermo. In Sardinia, she listens to the raw sounds of shepherds, and in Apulia to the hypnotic tarantella.

In Rome, Bunnik searches in the {{NOTRANSLATE_1}} for the film music of Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone. Film, by the way, is modern opera. Every Italian knows the San Remo Festival, the annual high mass of popular song. Bunnik reports on this unrivaled song festival. She tells how she listened to Laura Pausini as a ten-year-old, the most famous San Remo winner. It was the seed of her passion for Italy and the Italian language. Excitement in San Remo This book is more than a musical travel guide; it's a love letter from Miriam Bunnik to Italy. On every page, the Italian sun shines through. The book not only provides plenty of information—its twenty-three chapters are written in a gripping and compelling way.

The book contains not only many Italian song lyrics, with translations at the back, but Bunnik also writes very vividly with a rich vocabulary. In San Remo, she stops by the theater again "to soak in the excitement." You don't need to be an Italy enthusiast to enjoy this wonderful book!

Miriam Bunnik

Miriam Bunnik is a translator and Italy expert. She became known for her previous book Coffee Bars and Carabinieri from 2021. Her new book is not only a guide through Italian classical music via renowned composers like Vivaldi, but also covers popular songs like Volare, folk music, protest songs, and other genres…