"Dio, come ti amo" (English translation: "God, How I Love You") is a song which was first performed as duo by

Domenico Modugno Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song " Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received Grammy ...

and

Gigliola Cinquetti Gigliola Cinquetti (; born Giliola Cinquetti on 20 December 1947) is an Italian singer, songwriter, and television presenter. Life and career Gigliola Cinquetti was born into a wealthy family in Verona. From the ages of 9 to 13, she studied and ...

at the Sanremo Music Festival 1966. By winning the competition, it was chosen as the entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1966 The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, following the country's victory at the with the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall. ...

, and performed in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

by Modugno. It was also the title of an Italian Musicarello (Italian musical) released in 1966. The Singer was the main star, accompanied by Mark Damon, and actors from the Italian Stable Raimondo Vianello and Nino Taranto. It was in black and White. The song is a ballad, in which Modugno tells his lover how he feels about her. He expresses his amazement at the depth of his own feelings, with the title phrase being used frequently.

At Eurovison

The song was performed fourteenth on the night (following 's Téréza with " Bien plus fort" and preceding 's Dominique Walter with " Chez nous"). At the close of voting, it had received ''

nul points The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the , and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set f ...

'' (zero), for the first and also the only time in Italian Eurovision history, placing 17th (equal last) in a field of 18. Due to the song becoming a solo performance, rather than a duet, it had been rearranged since its performance at the Sanremo Music Festival. However, this broke the EBU rules stating that the arrangement should be finalised well in advance. During rehearsals mere hours before the final, Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three minute time limit set by the rules of the contest. Following his rehearsal, Modugno was confronted by the show's producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modugno was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the contest. Both the producers and EBU scrutineer

Clifford Brown Clifford Benjamin Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. He died at the age of 25 in a car accident, leaving behind four years' worth of recordings. His compositions "Sandu", "Joy Spring", an ...

felt it was too short notice to fly

to Luxembourg to represent Italy, so the EBU gave in and allowed Modugno to use his own ensemble instead of the orchestra. Despite websites and the official programme listing as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry. It was succeeded as Italian representative at the 1967 contest by

Claudio Villa Claudio Villa (born Claudio Pica; 1 January 1926 – 7 February 1987) was an Italian singer and actor. Biography Tenor Claudio Villa was born Claudio Pica in the Trastevere quarter of Rome in 1926. He recorded over 3000 songs, sold 45 million ...

with " Non andare più lontano".

Recordings

Sergio Franchi Sergio Franchi (born Sergio Franci Galli; April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990) was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA Vict ...

recorded an English/Italian version titled "Oh How Much I Love You (Dio, come ti amo!)" in 1967 on his RCA Victor album ''From Sergio – With Love''. Sergio Franchi *

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

recorded a version of the song titled "Dio, come ti amo (Oh God How Much I Love You)" for her 1991 album '' Keep the Music Playing''. * Spanish performer

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, a ...

recorded the song in 2017 accompanied by

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in 2020, and has twice been nom ...

. Both sang it in the original Italian.

Charts

References

Eurovision songs of Italy Eurovision songs of 1966 Domenico Modugno songs Gigliola Cinquetti songs Shirley Bassey songs Eurovision songs that scored no points Sanremo Music Festival songs Number-one singles in Italy Songs written by Domenico Modugno 1966 songs {{italy-stub