Italy – Singing Balconies

• Flavia Vinci

In these days I am thinking a lot to the novel Love in the Time of Cholera by G. Márquez.

Somewhere, someone is already writing the sequel, Love in the Time of Covid!!!

I have already passed out my bearing limit for a tons of reasons that I won’t report here.

The other day I started complaining with my friends about the hashtag “andrà tutto bene” (everything is going to be OK) because I find it creepy and it gives me anxiety!

Then, after some research it came out it was meant to reassure the kids… and ok, I can understand it but, as usual, adults are miscommunication.

A few days ago people invited to come to Italy, that is such a nice and safe place.

And what now? The same people that have over written posts over posts about that subject are acting like if everything was perfectly normal, also now that the whole country is lock down!

I hate idiots because idiots are dangerous. These are the same bloody criminals who jumped on the trains to the reach the South, when the Government had already established this massive block operation.

Yes, you might object that we have idiots located also in high places and I totally agree with you! They did not know how to manage the situation and they lost control 2 seconds after declaring the lock down!

But this is politics and now I want to focus on people, their bloody voters!

Luckily not all of them are alike!

I have friends who decided to stay in the North to not expose to a possible risk their families.

And there are people who are not complaining about this lousy situation 24 hours per day, maybe just a couple! We are all humans after all!

In the links that I am sharing you, here below you will find people standing in their balconies, singing out loud with their neighbors.

Yes, singing!

I find it a much more positive expression of hope and joy instead of lying to children and themselves, pretending that everything is going to be fine.

Romans have already created the opposite hashtag to contrast this fake optimism!

These videos have been taken between yesterday and today.

All over Italy, from North to South.

Call it desperation, call it fight, call it resistance or also resilience… I think we are far away from being a real country, we are rather a confederation of states, with their own cultural identities and a very little in common but, in my humble opinion, this is a nice way to make come out the spontaneity that we have in common!

Enjoy the show!

  • From Benevento with Love! I don’t know the song but As far as I know it is the video that opened to this spontaneous movement!
  • Craziness in Naples How I love this city!
  • Abbracciame 1. Naples. Hug me! This is the title. Napolitans are often like this, spontaneous, genuine, smiling. Yes, of course I cannot speak for all of them, but I love the city, I appreciate the people as well and I find that they have an energy that you won’t feel in many other cities.
  • Abbracciame 2. Naples. The proof of what I was stating here above! A girl that grab a mic and put the music loud to sing all by herself on her balcony! It’s not something you will see every day, not even in Italy!

Should you want to listen the original version, that is pure poetry (even if you don’t understand the lyrics because it’s Naples dialect!) you can click here. I cannot stop to sing it! ☺️

  • Giuliano. He is a pretty famous singer in Italy and I was just wondering when famous singers would have joined the singing balconies phenomenon! The first song is a Napolitan one, the second is one of its greatest hits.
  • Miscellaneous from the hymn to other songs from North to South.
  • Ciuri Ciuri. Agrigento. Another typical local song from the very South of Sicily. I love the singer, the participation of his neighbours and of course the song! One of my favorite performances so far!
  • Hymn
  • Miscellaneous and wishes

It seems that they will go on like that for the next two days. I don’t know if I will make other posts on that subject but for sure I will re-post the videos on my Facebook page: Now, Here and Somewhere Else.

44 thoughts on “Italy – Singing Balconies”

  7. Pavarotti might have become a goal keeper had his father not been a good amateur tenor with a collection of opera records. Yes, Italy is well known for being a place where people sing and sing with passion! Best wishes for surviving the COVID19 and sing your lungs out!

    Reply

      1. People have a way of surviving adversity, and this has to be equal to war in the way it deprives people of freedom to go about normal life. I love your country, having been to it on two occasions. The people are friendly, the whole country is an art ,museum, and I am a fan of opera. The scenery is appealing, too. Did I mention food? Anyway, if anyone will come through this in good shape, you will! God bless!

        Reply

          1. I love your country, the people, and their spirit! That Italians would sing to each other in times of adversity seems, to me, just the sort of thing Italians would do! So, of course, that’s what you do! You have survived worse and will survive this, too.

          3. Pavarotti, after all, planned to become a football keeper (I believe it was), then he took a fortuitous change of direction with glorious results! There are enough footballers.

  8. Oh, thank you for this post, Flavia. I just dislike (cannot say “hate”) some behaviours in crisis, but we’re so many, you know… I live these things (overreacting,etc.) with skepticism and try not to look at or hear them. I keep the rules and hope for the better. A big hug from my confinement, here in Madrid, la Spagna 🤗

    Reply

    1. Mi querida, as you can see we are all in the same conditions but keeping a positive attitude can make the difference.
      It can help us not to focus only on the bad things but it allows to discover also the small tiny things of everyday life. Te envío un abrazo enorme desde Roma. Ten cuidado ❤️

      Reply

  9. I live in the UK and aghast at the government’s current response to the threat this pandemic actually represents, when so many countries close to us are going through hell already. I have been sicken by the selfishness of our society. Unfortunately, it sounds like 90% of the population are composed of idiots who will cause the death of thousands – not only the elderly and sick, but also the ones who don’t have the resources to get the treatments they might need. The ones who still need to pay the bills at the end of month and have to go on to work because measures aren’t being taken. But reading about the singing happening from Italian balconies made me smile truly for the first time this week. It’s so empowering to know that as humans we still share something so meaningful and deep, like the lyrics of a song 🙂 Hoping for the best for you and your friends in Italy!

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Nic. You don’t know how much your words mean to me. We don’t know each other but just like these amazing people we can share a moment of closeness!
      We are all on the same boat! This virus does not care about sex, age, religion, borders, money… It is just spreading around and I am afraid that sooner or later all of us will be concerned and we will be asked to stay home and behave responsibly.
      It’s scary but it’s like this and not otherwise. The wiser thing to do is accepting that the rules games are changing and why not, sing out loud with perfect strangers that are confined exactly like us. We can shorten distance and the unexpected success of this post makes me think that, after all, a short moment of joy and release of was all tgat we needed, as the tension is still high, everywhere in the world.
      Be strong, be brave… and sing with us! ❤️

      Reply

    1. Yes Anabel, I am fine. Thank you 🤗 Appearently there are more singing sessions scheduled at the balconies! In my humble opinion nothing will be like these spontaneous manifestations… but we’ll see what will come up! I will keep you posted and you too take care 😘

      Reply

  12. I remember seeing little shrines on the corners of houses in Florence up about the level of the first storey of the house. We were told that when there was a plague people would come out onto the balconies and a priest would say mass below the little shrine. I have also heard of the singing in Italy now with covid. The human spirit is strong and still able to sing. Stay well !

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Anne, yes I dare to say that there are countries that suffer more than others the lock down. By nature we have a certain tendency to go outside!

      Reply

  14. So glad to see these folks sharing their talents, I am guessing here in US we will not see such positive activity…
    I am an RN. I work at a desk area, so not taking direct care of patients; but due to the fact that our hospitals have been full all winter with all the other things that still occur (because illness comes in many forms), I am hoping that the government’s request for social distancing will slow down the coming flood. It must be terrifying for healthcare workers there to have to decide who receives treatment such as life support.

    Reply

    1. You are so right Shauna. It’s a terrible situation. They are giving the priority to people who have a larger life expectation. But this is no civilization! All these years to come back to the starting point, like in the ancient Sparta🤦🏻‍♀️ in the meantime here they keep on singing out loud every day! Take care of yourself💪

      Reply

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