The heart wants what it wants — desire does not submit to logic, social approval, or practical calculation. The heart's attachments follow their own law, and no amount of reasoning can change what is truly loved or truly desired.
This proverb was most often invoked in matters of love — the daughter who fell in love with the 'wrong' man (wrong family, wrong religion, wrong class, wrong age), the widow who wanted to remarry against everyone's advice, the man who loved someone he could never have. Sicilian families, for all their control over marriages and social alliances, had to acknowledge ultimately that the heart's direction was not always governable. The proverb was both an excuse and an explanation: not 'I am choosing badly' but 'my heart has chosen, and the heart cannot be commanded.' It was said with resignation and also with a strange dignity: the heart's sovereignty over its own attachments was one of the few absolute freedoms in a tightly controlled social world.
A Sicilian proverb about the sovereignty of the heart's desires over social and rational control. 'Lu cori' = il cuore (the heart), 'voli' = vuole (wants), 'chiddu chi voli' = quello che vuole (what it wants). Widely used in romantic and family contexts across all Sicily.
Defending a relationship everyone disapproves of
— Perché stai con lui? Non capisce. — Lu cori voli chiddu chi voli — non sempre posso spiegarlo.
— Why are you with him? He does not understand. — The heart wants what it wants — I cannot always explain it.
Accepting an adult child's unexpected choice of partner
Non è quello che avevo in mente per lei. Ma lu cori voli chiddu chi voli — e lei è felice.
He is not what I had in mind for her. But the heart wants what it wants — and she is happy.
About an irrational but enduring passion
Lo so che non fa bene. So che dovrei smettere. Ma lu cori voli chiddu chi voli — non riesco.
I know it is not good. I know I should stop. But the heart wants what it wants — I cannot.
About a widow who remarried against family wishes
La famiglia era contraria. Ma lei era vedova da tre anni e aveva cinquant'anni. Lu cori voli chiddu chi voli — si è risposata.
The family was against it. But she had been a widow for three years and was fifty years old. The heart wants what it wants — she remarried.