Vita wrote:
Hi, I remember a song sung to me by my mother and I just want to make sure I have the words correct and have all the verses. It’s a lullaby and she used to rock us while singing it:
Bella che dormi
sul letto di fiori
mentre dormendo
un bacio d’amor
un bacio in fretta
la povera bambina
o poverina
dove sei andata
dalla nonnina
e cosa ta datto
un bacio un bacio la povera bambina!Beautiful girl sleeping
on a bed of flowers
while sleeping
a loving kiss
a quick kiss
the beautiful girl
o little one (literally poor one)
where did you go?
to grandmother’s
and what did she give you?
a kiss, a kiss
the little one (literally poor one)!Does anyone know any “fingerplays” in Italian – songs with accompanying actions?
Also, my grandmother in Naples, Italy used to tell us that wearing red underpants on New Years Eve brought good luck – I don’t know if she told us this because it was funny to little kids or because it is actually a custom.
Thank you!
Vita
If anyone can help Vita with the song or if you know about the New Year’s custom of wearing red underwear on New Years Eve for good luck, please let us know about it in the comments below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 1:52 am and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Customs and Traditions, Holidays Around the World, Italian, Italian Children's Songs, Italy, Languages, New Years, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
3 Responses to “Does anyone know if the words to “Bella che dormi” in Italian are correct?”
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December 28th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
On the site Infanziaweb.it, someone is looking for the lyrics to a ditty that goes
“bella che dormi sul letto di fiori
mentre dormiva la cara mammina,oh poverina chi dorme sarà.
oh Maria Giulia dove sei stata fai un passo fanne un’altro etc etc etc ” so maybe you both have a part of it, or a variant.
Wearing red underpants seems to be a tradition, just write “mutande rosse capodanno” and you’ll find quite a lot of sites that mention it. Why? it seems it’s to bring luck -or scare bad luck away.
November 21st, 2013 at 9:34 pm
That’s correct and complete version! (I’m Italian and when I was a baby we sing this to school)
O bella che dormi
su un letto di fiori
mentre dormendo, un bacio d’amor
un bacio d’affetto alla cara bambina
o poverina di dove sarà?
O Maria Giulia
da dove sei venuta?
Fai un salto
fanne un altro
fai la riverenza
fai la penitenza
orsù orsù
dai un bacio a chi vuoi tu!
February 23rd, 2014 at 10:57 am
Hi, I’m from Naples and Tixianne wrote the right version, but not complete for me! We used to sing (after the line “di dove sarà? “)
“Sarà in casa sua che si mette a pettinare” :)