Lucio Dalla – another artist inspired by Rimini

Rimini has long held a special place in the Italian imagination. Since at least the 1960s it has become, perhaps more than any other coastal resort town, the city associated with the summer, with nightlife, with excitement.

It’s not surprising then that so many Italian writers, musicians, and film-makers have been drawn to the city and have dedicated works to it. Bolognese singer-songwriter (and the man largely responsible for encouraging the powers that be to grant Bologna a special UNESCO status as a city of music)Lucio Dalla, – one of my favourite Italian artists – is one of those who has written a song about the city.

While the lyrics will be lost on non-Italian speakers, it’s worth watching the video for two reasons alone:

1) the melody, which – like Fabrizio De Andre’s song Rimini – gives a prominence to the rhythm of the city itself, which when sung can conjure up the sea straight away
2) For the video, which is an impressionistic/surreal piece not a thousand miles away from the noir visions of the city created by writers like Carlo Lucarelli