Playlists

“Roma Capoccia der mondo… Musicale.” A pretext, a game, to see just how much Mamma Roma has always embraced and inspired the most distant voices, united by the same birthplace, which has never failed to appear in many of their songs. Long celebrated by art, the Eternal City has often been at the centre of songs and albums across every genre and style. So here's a playlist in which Rome is told through the most disparate musical genres, from singer-songwriter fare to folk, from the heaviest sounds to the most indie ones, from dark and shadowy tones to hip-hop and its offshoots, right up to the splendid contemporary snapshot of Achille Lauro.

Obviously this is an introductory and representative selection, not an encyclopedic one, either of the artist or of the genre: on Venditti alone we could put together quite a hefty playlist on the theme, and the same goes for hip-hop, which - always faithful to its "street" vocation - has always placed at its centre the often brutal dynamics of the big city, and which, thanks to Noyz Narcos, also lets us pay tribute to the Queen, Gabriella Ferri (also featured with two other classic tracks from her repertoire).

Yes, not every musical genre is here, but "only" those where I could move more comfortably, more closely tied to the theme (in fact, for some names you'll find more than one song). I also chose to focus on acts that are less easy to find or hear on the radio, Spotify, etc. Leaving aside those who don't have a good relationship with the city, and excluding artists who nonetheless dealt with the theme magnificently despite not being "from around here" (you'll understand my pain in leaving out "Roma stasera" by Motta), to keep the selection authentic, you'll find only artists born within the walls of the Urbe, with a few notable adoptive exceptions: take the Califfo, born in flight - literally - but who went on to narrate Rome like few others. A survey, obviously subjective and at the discretion of the writer, of the many scenes and stories of the city, starting with the cornerstones of the Roman School.

So we begin with "Roma Capoccia", still the most beautiful song, included here in its recent live version where, with gaudium magnum, Venditti and De Gregori duet together again, kicking off a new run of live collaborations (the upcoming date at the Stadio Olimpico) and releases, with the cover of Dalla's "Canzone" and their respective reworkings of "Generale" and "Ricordati di me". We carry on with Califano, and via an essential classic - namely "Lella" - also sung by Lando Fiorini and revived in recent years by Orchestraccia, we'll encounter the Roman folk new wave made up of Ardecore, Muro del Canto, and Bandajorona, where the Roman tradition, brimming with "killings" and tragic love affairs, still lives on.

In place of the most famous tracks, we've preferred lesser-known passages that are just as beautiful and just as on-theme. From the crossover of "7 Vizi Capitali" we drift into hip-hop, arriving at the latest work by Tutti Fenomeni. From Guarascio to Contessa and his Cani, the leap is a short one, and here we are wandering around Corso Trieste, perhaps passing in front of the Giulio Cesare, with a jump between the opposite ends of the map.

After the recent singer-songwriter voices, it's time for a tour through more borderline territory, with the nihilist suicide pop of "Rotten Roma Casino" by Spiritual Front, the horror-soaked, hallucinated "Roma Est" by Bobby Joe Long's Friendship Party, and the decadent, guitar-driven one by Klimt 1918, right up to the final deflagration with "Roma Divina Urbs" by Aborym (originally from Taranto, but an exception worth making here too, to represent the genre), taken from "Kali Yuga Bizarre".

Each of these musicians, with their own grammar, their own gaze, has managed to capture a reflection, a glimpse of this city. So, whether you're far away for work and suffering a sudden attack of nostalgia, or in the car or on foot, by day or by night, hit play and let the journey begin among these many capital souls.

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25/12/2025