'Grazie Roma'
Pardon me while I have a musical interlude . . .
Yesterday I was a guest on Dante Liberatore's Italian Hour radio show on WVIE-AM in Baltimore (in a studio down a hallway adorned with the photos of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh!). I hadn't been to such a show in years, since my old friend and honorary fratello, Elia Mannetta, hosted one on a Towson station in the 1980s. . . . During yesterday's show, Liberatore, who is a live-wire act as a part-time radio host and full-time restaurateur, played some Italian tunes. I told him about one called, "Grazie Roma," heard once upon a time, maybe 25 years ago, when the Today show or GMA broadcast live from Italy. The singer -- I could not remember his name -- performed at a piano. It's a pleasant, catchy, sentimental tune. Dante never heard of it. 
Neither had his Uncle Danny, who was co-hosting, nor had Carmine Mistichelli, who came by to do the weekly Italian soccer report. Last night I hunted it up on YouTube and found it, of course. The song is by Antonello Venditti, written and recorded, it so happens, as a tribute to his favorite soccer team in the 1980s, and again about seven years ago. Listen and you'll see why I like it.
