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A2Classic· 1958

Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)

by Domenico Modugno

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“Volare, oh oh! Cantare, oh oh oh oh! Nel blu dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassù.”

— To fly, oh oh! To sing, oh oh oh oh! In the blue painted blue, happy to be up there.

About this song

If you ask any non-Italian to hum an Italian song, the answer is almost always 'Volare'. Domenico Modugno's 1958 single — its real title is 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' ('In the blue painted blue') — won the Sanremo Festival, conquered the Eurovision stage, sold over twenty-two million copies worldwide, and remains the only foreign-language song to win the American Grammy for Record of the Year. For English-speaking learners, Volare is gold: the lyrics are crystal-clear A2 Italian, full of useful future-tense forms ('volerò', 'sarò'), basic emotional vocabulary, and one of the most quoted lines in Italian poetry — 'nel blu dipinto di blu'. Beyond the language, the song marks the cultural moment when Italy stopped being a poor post-war country and started believing it could fly. Modugno literally opened his arms wide on stage, breaking with the formal crooner style of the time, and gave Italians permission to dream. Singing this song is a tiny lesson in modern Italian history.

Lyrics breakdown — verse by verse

We quote only short excerpts (2–4 lines) for educational analysis. For the full lyrics, please consult an officially licensed lyrics service.

Verse 1

Italian

Penso che un sogno così non ritorni mai più, mi dipingevo le mani e la faccia di blu.

English

I think that a dream like this will never come back again, I was painting my hands and my face blue.

Grammar focus

'Non ritorni' is the present subjunctive (congiuntivo presente) of 'ritornare', triggered by the verb 'penso che' (I think that) — Italian uses the subjunctive after verbs of opinion. 'Mi dipingevo' is the imperfetto of the reflexive 'dipingersi' (to paint oneself). The imperfetto describes ongoing or repeated past actions — perfect for the dream-like, unfinished image the song wants to evoke.

Vocabulary highlights

il sogno— the dream
ritornare— to come back / return
dipingere— to paint
la faccia— the face

Pre-chorus

Italian

Poi d'improvviso venivo dal vento rapito, e incominciavo a volare nel cielo infinito.

English

Then suddenly I was being snatched by the wind, and I began to fly in the infinite sky.

Grammar focus

Two imperfetti in a row ('venivo', 'incominciavo') keep us inside the dream. 'Venivo rapito' is a passive construction with 'venire' as auxiliary — a more poetic alternative to 'ero rapito' (with 'essere'). Italian often uses 'venire' for passives that emphasise the action ('the wind did the snatching') rather than the resulting state.

Vocabulary highlights

d'improvviso— suddenly
il vento— the wind
rapito— snatched / kidnapped (past participle)
incominciare a— to begin to

Followed by infinitive: 'incominciare a volare'

Chorus

Italian

Volare, oh oh! Cantare, oh oh oh oh! Nel blu dipinto di blu, felice di stare lassù.

English

To fly, oh oh! To sing, oh oh oh oh! In the blue painted blue, happy to be up there.

Grammar focus

'Volare' and 'cantare' are bare infinitives used as exclamations — a poetic Italian construction equivalent to English 'Oh, to fly!'. 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' is now an idiom: it means a state of joyful, blue-tinted bliss. 'Lassù' is one of three Italian 'place adverbs of distance' you should memorise: lassù (up there), laggiù (down there), quaggiù (down here).

Vocabulary highlights

volare— to fly
cantare— to sing
il blu— the colour blue

Invariable — never 'blui' or 'blua'

lassù— up there

Verse 2

Italian

E volavo, volavo felice più in alto del sole, ed ancora più su, mentre il mondo pian piano spariva lontano laggiù.

English

And I was flying, I was flying happily higher than the sun, and even further up, while the world slowly disappeared far away down there.

Grammar focus

Comparatives in action: 'più in alto del sole' = 'higher than the sun' uses 'più... di' (more... than). 'Pian piano' is a reduplicated adverb meaning 'very slowly, gradually' — Italian loves doubling words for emphasis (zitto zitto, piano piano, adagio adagio). 'Spariva' is again the imperfetto, describing the ongoing fading of the world.

Vocabulary highlights

il sole— the sun
pian piano— very slowly

Reduplicated adverb for emphasis

sparire— to disappear
lontano— far away

Bridge / Final verse

Italian

Una musica dolce suonava soltanto per me. Ma tutti i sogni nell'alba svaniscon perché.

English

A sweet music was playing only for me. But all dreams vanish at dawn — because.

Grammar focus

'Suonava' is again the imperfetto for an ongoing soundscape. The famous closing line 'tutti i sogni nell'alba svaniscon perché' uses the present indicative ('svaniscono', poetically shortened to 'svaniscon') for a general truth. Notice the dangling 'perché' — Modugno deliberately ends mid-explanation, as if waking up makes meaning collapse. A small but striking poetic device worth knowing.

Vocabulary highlights

dolce— sweet
suonare— to play (an instrument or sound)
l'alba— the dawn
svanire— to vanish / fade away

Cultural background — why this song matters

On 30 January 1958, a sweaty Domenico Modugno walked onto the Sanremo Festival stage and did something unprecedented: he opened his arms as wide as he could and sang. Italian crooners until that night had stood stock still, hands at their sides, singing in measured tones. Modugno broke the spell. The country, still rebuilding from World War II, suddenly heard itself given permission to soar. The song was inspired by a painting by Marc Chagall and a real dream Modugno had after eating too much fish — he later joked that gastric reflux gave Italy its national hymn of joy. Within months 'Volare' had been recorded by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, David Bowie, the Gipsy Kings, and (in 2018) Vasco Rossi. It is the only Italian-language song ever to win Record of the Year at the American Grammy Awards. For Italians, Volare is shorthand for the entire 'economic miracle' of the late 1950s — the years when Italy went from agrarian poverty to Vespa-riding optimism. When you sing it in a karaoke bar in Milan or at an Italian wedding in Brooklyn, you are joining a sixty-year-old chain of people choosing happiness on purpose.

Related grammar lessons

Want to drill the structures used in this song? Try these free lessons.

A2 grammar

Imperfetto for past descriptions ('volavo', 'dipingevo')

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A2 grammar

Future tense (Modugno's iconic 'volerò' in later verses)

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A2 grammar

Reflexive verbs ('mi dipingevo')

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A2 grammar

Comparatives ('più in alto del sole')

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A2 grammar

Adverbs of manner and reduplication ('pian piano')

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Frequently asked questions

What does 'nel blu dipinto di blu' literally mean?

Literally: 'in the blue painted blue', i.e. an immersive blueness so total that even the blue is painted blue. It describes the singer's blissful state when he flies into a sky so saturated with colour that the colour itself seems coloured. In modern Italian it has become an idiom for any joyful, dreamlike experience.

Why is the song called 'Volare' if its real title is 'Nel blu dipinto di blu'?

When the single was released abroad, foreign labels found 'Nel blu dipinto di blu' too long to print on a 7-inch sleeve, so they used the chorus's first word: 'Volare' (to fly). The nickname stuck so completely that today even Italians refer to the song as 'Volare' first.

Is 'Volare' good for learning Italian grammar?

Excellent. The song is built on the imperfetto (Italian past descriptive tense), uses several useful infinitives as exclamations ('volare!', 'cantare!'), shows comparatives ('più in alto del sole'), and includes the reflexive verb 'dipingersi'. Modugno's diction is also unusually clear, making it easier to hear individual words than in many modern pop songs.

Who covered Volare?

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, the Gipsy Kings, David Bowie, Cliff Richard, Vasco Rossi, and dozens more. Dean Martin's English-language version became a transatlantic hit in 1958 and is still the version most Americans know.

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