On This Day in 1983: 'Grazie Roma' is recorded

‘Grazie Roma’ was recorded by Venditti on 8 March 1983, which also happened to be his birthday, and still today it seems to encapsulate a feeling that would otherwise be so difficult to express in words.

‘Grazie Roma’ is not just a song, but a fantastic critical interpretation that reveals to the world why Roma is so important to us.

Venditti composed ‘Grazie Roma’ in November 1982 in his house in Trastevere, but did not record it until 8 March 1983, by which point that season's Scudetto was still yet to be wrapped up.

He revealed the reasons that pushed him towards making such a bold statement: a desire to thank Roma for something that was in the atmosphere, but that was still yet to materialise.

He explained further in his book "L’importante è che tu sia infelice" (Mondadori, 2009 – The important thing is that you’re unhappy): “I felt that something wonderful was happening and I found out that you can cry tears of joy.

“’Grazie Roma’ was born out of gratitude for the city and my team, with the two of them inseparable. I had faith. I sensed that Roma would win the Scudetto, otherwise I wouldn’t have allowed anything like that to happen.

“I feel the song is perfectly structured because there’s a huge connection between the city, the team and the language. It’s split into three parts. You can interpret it just as Roma the team, you can interpret it as the city and there’s the more local aspect as the first section is sung in Italian and the second is as if I’m reclaiming my treasure and singing just for the Romans.”

"Dimmi cos'è che ci fa sentire amici anche se non ci conosciamo.Dimmi cos'è che ci fa sentire uniti anche se siamo lontani.Dimmi cos'è, cos'è che batte forte, forte, forte in fondo al cuore"

- Antonello Venditti