Thomas Tulipani wrote me, asking about an Italian song…
My paternal grandmother had a “rocking” song similar to the one on your blog site but not the same. She would sit us on her lap facing her and holding our hands. Singing the rhyme she would rock us back and forth and at the last line she would rock us all the way back onto her extended legs, simulating falling.
It started like the other rhyme:
Staccia (?) minaccia
But it only had two more lines. All I remember is a phonetic impression of my grandmother’s words that my mother (who never understood Italian) used when she performed the same game.
I asked Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français if she was familiar with this song. Here’s what she wrote…
I found this one in Italian:
Staccia minaccia
il babbo è andato a caccia
a caccia del bubù
il bubù lo buttiamo giù?Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together in English…
Staccia = sieve, minaccia = threat
Daddy’s gone to hunt,
To hunt the scarecrow.
Do we throw the scarecrow away? (lit. down)
I really don’t know what this Staccia minaccia means, as I can’t figure out how you can sieve a threat, unless minaccia is only to rhyme with staccia and caccia.
Thanks for your help Monique!
I’m wondering if Staccia minaccia could be to get rid of (sift out) a threat, by hunting it down.
If anyone can shed further light on the meaning of this song, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
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30 Responses to “An Italian Rocking Song called Staccia minaccia”
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October 5th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Hi Lisa,
My mother and nona used to sing what would seem to be the same song and would rock us the same way as Thomas Tulipani explained. The words were a little different though. I don’t speak Italian, but I can give you the phonetic spelling of what they used to sing…
Staccia Sticola,
Pia (child’s name) e boothela foda
Ki la coy e da
Babo e mama che pensetta
The loose translation, from what I remember, was that the baby was crying all the time and the grandparents threw the baby out, but the mom and dad would bring the baby back in.
I’d like to know the correct Italian version and the correct translation also. If you can help, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks!
Maria
October 25th, 2006 at 10:09 am
My Nana was born in Fano, Italy and came to America when she was 2. She used to sing this to her progeny. It brings back a lot of wonderful memories. I do this rocking song with my grandchild now, but I’ve had to reproduce it phoenetically. My Nana wasn’t sure what the poem meant but she thought Staccia Minnacia was the name of the hunter. I would love to learn more about this little rocking song! Sandra
January 20th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
I CANNOT beleive I found this blog on this song!!!!!!
My Grandmothers family is from Fano Italy. Bedini.
My grandmother sang me this song ALL the time. She sang it like this though (Phontically as others here have, becuase I have never studied Italian):
Staccia Menaccia
Papa (or baba) giuta caccia
complene none fige
fige nuncetta
boopa giuta ciaetta
Simliar story, my granddmother explained that the words loosely translated meant Daddys gone a hunting to catch a rabbit, but he doesn’t catch any rabbits, throw down hunting (forget about hunting?)
Maybe it was cultural to that specific geographic region…
Wow what a stroll down memory lane that was. I miss them both
:)
March 9th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I can not believe I have stumbled upon this site. My paternal grandmother from Abruzzi, Italy use to sing a song to me and now I’m trying to find the words. I believe it started out as “Gadisa Gadisa Gomadre” She use to stand me in front of her while she was in her rocking chair and hold my hands and rock me in and out and sing this song and at the end of the song she use to sing it real fast and rock me real fast/ If anyone knows this song please contact me. I would love to sing this to my Grandson. Thank You.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:47 pm
I remember my grandmother singing the song Staccia Menaccia to me & it was explained to me when I grew older & had children of my own that it was a version of Bye Baby Bunting, Daddy’s gone a hunting. I sang this to my children when I rocked them & yes, you do lean them back on your knee at the end. I also learned another song from my grandmother. It was (phonetically) called Staccia Stacian, que manne farring el panne, faring la cresha dura, ye sbataring te mura, mura mura forte, le clave de lorte, le clave de le jardin, butan juoe ma cla fulingne. Has anyone heard this? Roughtly it translates: Staccia, Stacian that tomorrow we make cresha (bread) we make card cresha & throw it at the wall, the wall is so strong, the keys of the garden the keys of the little garden & we throw the child down.
December 31st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
The spelling mistake in my previous entry is cresha that is hard, not card cresha…sorry
January 1st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
The song was probably in a Machegane dielec and it probably meant Bye Baby Bunting. Would need someone that speaks the dielec to translate.
My grandmother that sang this song was from Lucrezia, just outside of Fano. Her married name was Tomassini. Does anyone know/speak Marchegane?
February 27th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I am Italian, from Marche. First of all the same “filastrocca” would sound different depending on the dialects of different areas (region or even cities).
Besides in particular in this case, there are many versions of this “filastrocca”: look for “staccia minaccia”, staccia buratta” and “staccia stacciola” in http://www.filastrocche.it
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I remember my mom doing this with me and my children and could not remember all the wordsl so very glad i came across this…now i (nonnie) can pass it along to my new grandchild..thanks!!!!!!
February 16th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
the rhyme goes like this
Staccia Minaccia
Babbo andato a cacchia
a cacchia del bubu
buta la giu giu giu buta la for girl or buta lo for a boy. The story goes: father went hunting and he caught the boggy man. So he threw him away far away. I am not Italian but my husband is from Fano and this is how they translate this rhyme.
May 14th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
My Nonna was from Pisa, Italy (Vannucci family). She sang this song to me, also, when I was a small child. However, my recollection is different from most of the others in that the verses seem to have dealt with cats and dogs. Has anyone heard a rhyme similar to this:
Staccia minaccia
Gatino pela gato (Kitten and cat?)
La gato famulino (The cat is hungry?)
Ker loto, ker sale, ker peesho del cane (?)
Buta la buta la male (pr. mall-ay) – (This is where she would lay me back between extended legs.)
If you have a clue about this rhyme, I’d love to hear it. I’d like to share it with my own granddaughter if the lyrics are CLEAN!!!
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:05 pm
I’ve been singing a song my great grandma brought over. Of course its all phonectic as I don’t speak Italian, but I’m pretty sure it’s this staccia minaccia you’ve been refering too. Our version was Cacchia Manacchia and it went:
Cacchia Manacchia
Que ba bogeeta cacchia
cacchia del Boo boo
My (child’s name) bo ta shew (more like jew actually)
Anybody have any idea?
November 9th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Like the others I can’t believe I found this site. My nonna also used to sing us a version of this song. But it started out Staccia stacciola, rocking throughout, and ended with the fall back combined with a repeat phrase while tickling. So adorable. And now I have grandchildren and do the same, only repeating phonetically as best I can. I don’t know that I ever knew the actual words. Phonetically, this is the best I can do –
Staccia stacciola,
butania ju da forta
ju da forta chal boo baw
Cordy, cordy, cordy, cordy (fall back and tickling now)
Mama chal boo baw
If anybody can help with this I’d love to know more. :)
March 15th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
My Nonna and Nonno used to sing this to me and then to my son. They were from Le Marche. Here is how our family sang it, the long version (please forgive some misspellings):
Staccia Minccia
butalo giu la piazza
la piazza delle mommoletta
mommoletta d’oro
d’oro e d’argento
pese cinquecento
cento e cinquanta
la gallina canta
canta gallina
fal ovo per serafina
serafina sulla finestra
con tre cavalli in testa
pass’a l’enfante
con tre cavalli bianchi
(forgotten part)
e butalo giu laggiu laggiu…
May 8th, 2013 at 10:36 am
Stephanie wrote asking for help with her mom
s version of this rhyme:
Hi
I know that my mom used to rock me and sing this song to me….when I was a little girl like this…of course these are the words I remember… Thanks Stephanie
Tacha
mina cha
pa pa gi
baca cha
la ca cha del bubu
ma stefiolina
badlejo badlejo badlejo
If anyone can help, please let us know. -Thanks!
August 30th, 2017 at 3:51 am
Very wonderful everybody! Like my sister (above – Sandra Denton…didn’t know she wrote that), I remember my Nana speaking this ditty with us toddlers. I am a bit of a linguistic fan maybe the reason I remember certain sounds, phrases…though, back then – 1948, the older family didn’t want to keep their tongue of origin …shame! But we loved the poem, “Staccia Minaccia…poi in babbo e andato a caccia. A caccia del bubu! Cost fa il tuo babbo? Lo butiamo giu, giu, …” but that’s not exactly how she said it…and one of you above said some words that I DO remember…one was “fulingne”. It is so interesting how we love the things our loved ones do with us that they don’t feel are important…guess that’s a lesson for us who are NOW the grandparents! 😉
August 30th, 2017 at 4:03 am
Now I remember the phrase…ma ca fuliggine – translates to ” but some soot”. So perhaps that was all that was left of the boogie man, the bubu…some soot! Haha! This is fun!
September 6th, 2017 at 6:27 pm
I am so excited to have found this, as my nonna used to play this with me as a child. What really made me happy was to know that it originated in Le Marche. Both my grandparents came from there: Colbordolo and San Costanzo. Here are the words as I remember them. She would sing while rocking me back and forth on her knees, facing her:
Staccia Minaccia
Il babbo va a caccia
A caccia del bubu!
Il bubu va giu giu giu giu giu… (which is when they would let me fall backwards on their knees)
April 12th, 2018 at 7:59 pm
Hi everybody!
Here’s Matteo and Cristina, we’re a young italian couple and we just have found all these comments looking for “Staccia minaccia”, a song our granmas and grandpas sang to us!
Just a couple of explainations:
– the text means, literally, that the dad went hunting to catch the bogeyman (the booboo) and then it goes like “throw him down, throw him down, throw him down
” (Buttalo giù buttalo giù buttalo giù)
This song is still sang in Northern Marche, and it still evoques memories!
– the other one, Staccia Stacciola, took the name from Stacciola, a little bourgh near San Costanzo, always in Marche…which is really near us!
Hope we have helped you…ciao!
April 12th, 2018 at 10:27 pm
Thanks for your help Matteo and Cristina!
April 19th, 2018 at 9:19 pm
My grandmother, from Pisa, used to sing: Staccia Minaccia, Gatino pela gato
La gato famulino, l’oglio, sale, piscia (sp.) di animale
February 16th, 2020 at 5:57 pm
I’m hoping to piece together this poem my dad rocked me and my kids to. He had another verse thrown in From the Gubbio region of Umbria.
Staccia Minaccia
Il Babbo è andato a caccia
Per oggi per domani
per tutto il carnivale
il canivale e basta
ce fare la pasta
la pasta del bubu
Il bubù lo buttiamo giù??
questa figlia?
buttala giu!
July 10th, 2020 at 2:24 pm
Hello everyone,
I’m so glad I found this site. All four of my grandparents came to America through Ellis Island. In fact, we bought bricks with our family names: Frulla and Scarpetti. All four grandparents were from Le Marche region of Italy…Senigallia and Pesaro. Both of my grandmothers rocked me and sang this song. We all grew up in Ridgefield, CT and the names Tulipani and Bedini are very familiar. I’m related to some Bedini’s. Nonetheless, depending on the dialect, the version I recall is most closely related to the first post by Thomas Tulipani.
October 6th, 2020 at 7:58 pm
Here’s the version I remember. Pardon the spelling, I don’t know Italian.
Staccia Manina
Cabelli dacina
Ri goto Del gato
Tutala compania
FRUSTI VIA (is when she would dip us down)
Anyone?????
March 24th, 2021 at 11:00 pm
I have been trying to figure out/remember this song for decades! My dad used to sing it while bouncing us on his knee. All I could remember were the first two words, Staccia Minaccia, and that it rhymed. When I saw Paula’s post, that definitely rang a bell, and I believe those were the lyrics my dad used. And! He was an Italian immigrant, from Pesaro/Le Marche region. This made my day to find this. And maybe I have some cousins here :)
December 3rd, 2021 at 7:36 pm
I have searched for this song & it’s origin for years. My grandma sang this to all of us as a rocking song as kids. We are starting to have our own children now and she’s no longer here to explain where this came from or what it means. She was never fluent speaking but understood her mother (my great grandma) so I’m sure things got lost in translation/as it was passed on. This isn’t exactly what I was looking for but it’s the closest I’ve found. If anyone could tell me where this comes from, any history or your own version I’d be eternally grateful. I found other lyrics & I placed in parentheses the variation we used. The first one is where I get lost because it’s not exactly Italian. No idea how “cofadina” is supposed to be spelled. I’d assume co fa dina but no clue what happened there. My great grandma came from Mondolfo, Italy. Any help on that specifically would be great, thanks!
Staccia menena
(Co fa dina? cena) che faremo per cena
Farema maccheroni
(For papa & the nonni) per babbo, nonno e zia
per tutta la compagnia
e al bimbo lo buttiamo via! (We didn’t use this last line)
December 20th, 2021 at 9:53 pm
My dad was originally from Naples, Italy, and he used to sing a song while rocking us on his lap. I can’t seem to find it anywhere, but the words go something like this (forgive my errors!):
Zaddi za
Loca….
Bene ……
Bene da ……
Quanda vi
Chista gi
Salem bet
La casa stella
If anyone, anyone can help me with this, many thanks!!!!!
Merry Christmas!
November 30th, 2022 at 1:49 am
My grandmother and mother sang this to me and my kids. The version my mom said to us was:
Staccia Minaccia
Babbo e andato a caccia
A matsato una beccaccia
Beccaccia del bubu!
Butila giu giu giu giu giu…
A beccaccia is a bird. In English it’s called a woodcock, they are night dwellers with long bill
February 21st, 2023 at 10:25 am
Mother in law used to have the babies face her with them standing and would rock them slowly but getting faster than at the end pinching their cheeks. I am not Italian but it sounded like…
Stitchee staccia
Cina nina face
Yeta la piace
Staccida la mia
Et dopa cina face
Can anyone help with this at all?
December 26th, 2023 at 3:28 pm
I believe most of the previous interpretations of Staccia Minacci are in various dialects. My father had a dialect also but the song he sang to me and my children was in the universal Italian language.
Staccia minaccia,
(Name of child) andatta a caccia,
Caccia dello suoro
Momento ti Adorno
Oro, argento,
Si pesa quattro cento,
Cento cinquanta,
La mi gallina canta,
Canta gallina,
Responda la regina,
Regina sta in finestra,
Con tre carona in testa,
Passano tre infanti,
Sul tre cavalli bianchi,
Bianca la stella,
La mi patrona bella,
Un piatto di macaroni,
Ben conditti, ben salatti,
Butta giu (name of child)