"L'Italiano" (; Italian for "The Italian") is an Italian pop song by

Toto Cutugno Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (; born 7 July 1943) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Conte ...

released in 1983. It was his biggest international hit and is his best-known composition. The song was forgotten during the 1990s and was re-discovered when Toto Cutugno performed it live at a charity concert in Rome commemorating Italy's victory at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, creating a new wave of popularity for this song.

Recordings

This song was originally intended for

Adriano Celentano Adriano Celentano (; born 6 January 1938) is an Italian musician, singer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is dubbed "''il Molleggiato''" (the springy one) because of his dancing. Celentano's many albums frequently enjoyed both commercial and ...

, who turned it down. In 1983, Finnish singer

Kari Tapio Kari Tapani Jalkanen (22 November 1945 – 7 December 2010), better known by his stage name Kari Tapio, was a Finnish schlager and country & western singer. During his career, he was one of the most popular singers in Finland for decades; having ...

recorded a cover titled "Olen suomalainen" ("I am a Finn"), which became a hit in Finland. Also in 1983, a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

version titled "Als ik maar bij jou ben" ("As long as I'm with you") was a moderate hit for

palingsound Palingsound (; 'European eel sound') is the unique musical sound attributed to a subgenre of Dutch pop music called palingpop. It is sometimes used to refer to the palingpop genre as a whole. History Origin The Cats (1964 -1985) are univers ...

group Canyon from

Volendam Volendam () is a fishing town in the municipality of Edam-Volendam, province of North Holland, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2021, it has a population of 22,715. It is twinned with Coventry, England. History Originally, Volendam was the location o ...

. In 1984, Doron Mazar, an Israeli singer and Gassan Abbas,an Israeli-Arabian actor recorded a cover to this song, titled "Ani Hozer HaBayta" ("I am returning home"). In 1998, the Hungarian band "Happy Gang" made a cover titled "Sokáig voltam távol" ("I've been away for long") on their album "Te+én" ("You+me") This song was copied by Indian music duo Sanjeev-Darshan for the movie " Mann". In 2011, the song was released on the famous party band

The Gypsy Queens The Gypsy Queens is a French pop band formed in Nice by Didier Casnati. They play a large repertoire of multi-lingual covers, with a rich vocal style likened to bands such as The Beach Boys or The Beatles. Although the band successfully release ...

eponymous album ''

''. The song became a successful cover for the band when they released a video clip of the song (produced by Didier Casnati) featuring Italian actress

Caterina Murino Caterina Murino (born 15 September 1977) is an Italian actress. She began her acting career in the 1999 production of the play '' Richard III'' and later made her breakthrough with the 2004 film '' The Corsican File''. She went on to appear in t ...

, and reached several million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in only a couple of weeks. Brazilian singer José Augusto recorded the song in Portuguese as "Faz de Conta". French singer

Hervé Vilard Hervé Vilard (born René Villard; 24 July 1946 in Paris, France) is a French pop–singer, who first became famous in the 1960s. His first single " Capri c'est fini" became an international hit in 1965 and rendered him instantaneously famo ...

recorded the song in French as "Méditerranéenne". Austrian-Italian singer

Patrizio Buanne Patrizio Franco Buanne (born 20 September 1978) is an Italian-Austrian baritone singer, songwriter, and producer. Biography Early life Patrizio Buanne was born in Vienna, Austria to Franco and Alina Buanne; he spent his childhood living and t ...

recorded his version in album " The Italian" in 2005. Vietnamese singer

Đàm Vĩnh Hưng Đàm Vĩnh Hưng (born 2 October 1971), often referred to by his nickname Mr. Dam is an American-Vietnamese singer. He won 2 Dedication awards and multiple awards in Vietnam. Besides pop, he also performed many pre-war songs, Trinh Cong Son's ...

recorded his version in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

as "Say Tình" in 2001 The Sicilians recorded a cover mixed by Dj Serg featuring Angelo Venuto and released on their album ''Un amore'' in 2004. It was played on

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

Radio stations as well. In 2021 the couple Jonathan Cilia Faro and

Annalisa Minetti Annalisa Minetti (born 27 December 1976 in Rho) is an Italian singer, politician and Paralympic athlete. Minetti was a beauty pageant contestant in the 1997 edition of Miss Italia; she gained public attention because she was the first blind woman ...

record a cover of the song for the compilation ''Pro Latino 146'' ( DMC, DMCPL146).

Charts

References

1983 songs Sanremo Music Festival songs Toto Cutugno songs Songs written by Toto Cutugno Number-one singles in Portugal {{1980s-song-stub