“Volare,” officially titled “Nel blu, dipinto di blu,” was sung by Domenico Modugno in 1958. It is a song about a dream of flying. The singer paints his hands and face blue, the wind lifts him into an endless sky, and when he wakes at dawn he finds that same blue in his lover’s eyes. “Volare” is Italian for “to fly.”
The song is credited to Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci. It won Italy’s biggest song festival, came third at Eurovision, topped the US charts and won the first Grammys. That’s a lot of success for what is really a song about a daydream.
What does “Volare” mean in English?
“Volare” means “to fly.” In Italian it’s the infinitive form of the verb, so it works like a shout of the action itself rather than “I fly” or “I will fly.” The word that follows it in the famous chorus, “cantare,” is also an infinitive and means “to sing.” Together they sum up the song: the singer is flying, and he’s singing about it.
The official title, “Nel blu, dipinto di blu,” translates to “In the blue, painted blue.” It is also rendered as “The Blue (Sky), Painted in Blue.” The phrase doesn’t just describe a blue sky. It describes a man who has painted himself blue and disappears into the blue around him. Picture a figure blending into the sky rather than looking up at it.
The story behind the song: a dream and two Chagall paintings
The story starts with two paintings by Marc Chagall. Franco Migliacci started on the lyric in June 1957, with those two canvases as his spark. Chagall is the Russian-French artist known for dreamlike scenes of lovers and villagers floating over rooftops, and those images fit the song closely.
The way the lyric came to Migliacci is a story in itself. Migliacci was waiting for Modugno, had some wine and dozed off. After vivid dreams, he woke up facing the Chagall prints on his wall. The song grew out of his memories of the two paintings combined with a dream image of himself painted blue and able to fly.
That same night Migliacci went over the lyrics with Modugno, and the two worked on the song for several days under the working title “Sogno in blu” (“Dream in blue”). The working title helps explain the finished song. It was always meant to be a dream, and the blue was always the color of that dream.
Volare lyrics meaning, part by part
The original Italian lyrics are still under copyright, so here is the song paraphrased in order.
- The opening. The singer remembers a dream he’s sure won’t come back. In it he painted his hands and face blue, and then a sudden wind carried him up into the endless sky.
- The chorus. He sings “volare” and “cantare,” flying and singing. He’s happy to be up there in the painted blue, rising past the sun while the world below shrinks and fades, and he hears sweet music playing just for him.
- The turn at dawn. Dreams fade at sunrise, he explains, because the setting moon takes them away. But he hasn’t lost the dream. He keeps dreaming in his lover’s beautiful eyes, which are as blue as a sky full of stars.
- The closing chorus. The blue is now the blue of the lover’s eyes. The singer is happy to be down here instead of up there. The world disappears into those eyes, and the lover’s voice is the sweet music.
The switch from “up there” to “down here” is the key to the song. The first half is a solo fantasy of escape. The second half brings that fantasy down to earth and gives it a person. The song can be read as saying that love is the waking version of the flying dream: you don’t need the wind or blue paint, just the right person to look at.
Themes: freedom, imagination and love
“Volare” uses flight to stand for several feelings at once.
- Freedom and escape. Rising above the sun while the world slips away is a classic picture of leaving everyday worries behind.
- The power of imagination. The flight happens in a dream sparked by paintings. The song celebrates the mind’s ability to make the impossible feel real.
- Love as the real-life version of the dream. The ending moves the endless sky into a lover’s eyes. That turns a surreal fantasy into a romantic song.
- Joy. The words have almost no conflict. Even the loss at dawn gets resolved within a few lines, which helps make the chorus such an easy singalong.
How “Volare” became a worldwide hit
“Nel blu, dipinto di blu” went from an Italian festival entry to one of the best-known songs in the world within a single year. It was released as a single on 1 February 1958. At the Sanremo Music Festival, Modugno performed it together with Johnny Dorelli, and the song won the contest and became an enormous success worldwide.
| Milestone | Year | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Sanremo Music Festival | 1958 | Winner (Modugno with Johnny Dorelli) |
| Eurovision Song Contest, Hilversum | 1958 | 3rd of 10 entries, 13 votes |
| Billboard Hot 100 (US) | 1958 | No. 1 for 5 weeks; Billboard’s No. 1 single of the year |
| 1st Annual Grammy Awards | 1959 ceremony | Record of the Year and Song of the Year |
| Eurovision “Congratulations” anniversary show | 2005 | 2nd place, 267 points |
In the US, Modugno’s 1958 record spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was then named the No. 1 single of the year by Billboard magazine. It also won the first Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It is the first and only foreign-language release to win those awards, and the only Eurovision song to win a Grammy.
Is Volare Italian or Spanish?
“Volare” is an Italian song, and “volare” is an Italian word. People ask about Spanish because the Gipsy Kings recorded a well-known flamenco-pop version in 1989. Spanish has a similar word, “volaré,” which means “I will fly.” The song’s roots, its writers and its title are all Italian.
In the US, English-language covers carried the song further. Dean Martin famously covered it. His English lyric is a breezier love song and not a word-for-word translation of the Chagall-style dream. Bobby Rydell had a hit with his own version in 1960.
| Version | Year | Language |
|---|---|---|
| Domenico Modugno (original) | 1958 | Italian |
| Dean Martin | 1958 | English and Italian |
| Bobby Rydell | 1960 | English and Italian |
| Gipsy Kings | 1989 | Italian and Spanish, in their flamenco style |
Why the song still connects
“Volare” lasts because of how it’s built. You can sing the chorus even if you don’t speak Italian, since it comes down to two verbs and a long, open vowel. The picture it paints is easy to imagine too: a person dissolving into the sky. And the song lands on a simple feeling: looking at someone you love and feeling weightless. The wider world got a taste of postwar Italian romance from it.
FAQ
– Did Volare win Eurovision?
No, “Volare” did not win Eurovision. It received 13 votes and placed Italy third of the 10 entries at the 1958 contest in the Netherlands. Even without the win, it went on to become a huge worldwide hit under the title “Volare.”
– How do you pronounce Volare in English?
“Volare” is pronounced voh-LAH-reh, with the stress on the middle syllable. The final “e” is said out loud, like the “e” in “bet,” and the “r” is lightly tapped. “Cantare” follows the same pattern: kahn-TAH-reh.
– What is the Italian gibberish song called?
The Italian “gibberish” song is “Prisencolinensinainciusol” by Adriano Celentano, released in 1972. It’s a completely different song from “Volare.” Celentano sang made-up words meant to sound like English to Italian ears.
– Is “Por Ti Volaré” the same song as Volare?
No, “Por Ti Volaré” is a different song. It’s the Spanish-language version of Andrea Bocelli’s “Con te partirò.” The only link to Modugno’s “Volare” is the shared root word for flying.
– Who wrote Volare?
Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci wrote “Volare.” Migliacci came up with the lyric idea from a dream and two Chagall paintings, and the two finished the song together. Modugno also performed it himself.