Rome mayor awards Venditti with Lupa Capitolina

Italian singer-songwriter and pianist Antonello Venditti received Rome's top honour from the capital's mayor Roberto Gualtieri during a ceremony at city hall on Wednesday.

The president of the city assemby Svetlana Celli welcomed Venditti as a "son of Rome", noting that this year marks the 40th anniversary of his classic song Notte prima degli esami, a pre-exam anthem in Italy.

Celli also said that songs such as Roma Capoccia, Grazie Roma and many others "testify to Venditti's deep love for Rome, a city that he has always carried in his heart and in his music".

Gualtieri expressed his gratitude to Venditti who he hailed as an "extraordinary singer-songwriter and a true poet who, like very few, has been able to sing and tell the story of our city, in all its facets".

"This is my home and I love it in all its forms" - said Venditti, dressed in a black suit and his trademark sunglasses - "my songs speak for me".

During the ceremony, the musician performed Ho fatto un sogno which, among his many songs dedicated to the city, "is about our relationships with others".

Venditti said the song was written as an ode to the Italian capital and is for "those who love Rome and are not Roman".

Un onore e un piacere consegnare oggi al grande Antonello Venditti la Lupa capitolina, la massima onorificenza di Roma Capitale. Antonello è un cantautore straordinario e un vero poeta che, come pochissimi, ha saputo cantare e raccontare la nostra città, in tutte le sue… pic.twitter.com/cGHsv1SGc0

— Roberto Gualtieri (@gualtierieurope) November 13, 2024

Venditti, 75, became popular in the 1970s for the social themes addressed in his songs and he has sold more than 30 million albums over the course of his long career.

He has a long association with fellow Rome singer Francesco De Gregori, with whom he reunited in 2022 for a 50th anniversary tour of Italy.

A lifelong Roma fan, Venditti celebrated his football club's victory of the "Scudetto" Serie A league title in 1983 by writing the hugely popular Grazie Roma.

The singer performed a free concert in the Circus Maximus to mark the occasion, and again in 2001 when Roma won the Scudetto in 2001 for the third time in the club's history.

The Lupa Capitolina is described as the highest recognition that Rome gives to "illustrious personalities who have left, and continue to leave, an indelible mark on the culture and imagination of our city."

Previous recipients of the Rome prize include Italian singer Vasco Rossi, Rome actress Paola Cortellesi and Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola.

Photo credit: Roberto Gualtieri X