A Century of Musica
Italy's Ministry of Culture has just put an entire century of Italian popular music online, for FREE!
canzoneitaliana.it contains just over 200,000 tracks available to stream unlimited thanks to of Italy's Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage, ICBSA in partnership with Spotify and has been launched to coincide with Italy's biggest music festival, Sanremo.
The vast catalogue ranges from 1900 to 2000 and is divided chronologically, geographically and thematically. It includes traditional songs from each of Italy's regions, political songs from the first half of the 20th century, and Italian hits used on movie soundtracks.
Not positive what to look for? The service contains specially curated playlists for an overview of everything from Enrico Caruso's greatest hits to the women of Italian rock to cult TV theme songs. Even better, each section is accompanied by historical and musical context and is available in 8 languages.
If, somehow, you still can't find what you're looking for, an additional 5,000 songs will be added each month, according to Culture Minister Dario Franceschini who wishes to create ”a sort of central state archive that will last throughout time".
We hope you've enjoyed learning about "A Century of Musica!" Interested in exploring the site in it's native language? Check out our fully immersive, culturally infused lessons to get on the road to fluency today!