I get a lot of requests for help with Italian rhymes and songs. It seemed like a good idea to post a few together as the writers may even be able to help each other! Most of these are from the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Italian immigrants to the United States who remember being sung these by their parents, grandparents and great grandparents. These are special memories!
The Italian is mainly written phonetically below. Here are some of the emails I’ve received…
1) Hi Lisa,
My mother and my grandmother used to say a nursery rhyme to me when I was a little girl. They would put me on their lap, facing them like I was riding on a galloping horse. The rhyme is: (Keep in mind my spelling is all wrong)
Ki Ki Ki cavallo,
la mama vien al ballo,
da scarpieta sienna….And it goes on. My mother and grandmother were from Trieste, so it could be in dialect. I’d just like to figure out the words and meaning of the rhyme to teach my granddaughter. Hope you can help me.
Many thanks,
Sue Henry
2) My great grandmother was from the Abruzzi Region and used to sing us a song that started out (phonetically):
Di say comati….
I don’t remember any of the other words but know that she used to rock us on her lap during the song and then at the end would say ‘di di di di deeeee’ lean over so we would fall back and up-side-down.
I realize that I’m not giving you much to work with! Any help would be appreciated.
3) My mother used to sing an Italian nursery song to my girls when they were young, but now my mother has Alzheimer’s and can’t remember the words to teach my daughter so she can teach them to her girls. It was “mane mane manutsa vene papa, boite gozi sini va….” something to that effect, general meaning: clap hands clap hands, daddy’s coming home and bringing presents…” something like that.
It’s all my daughter has of her grandma to pass on. Please help if you can. My grandmother was from Palermo and very poor, so the words and the dialect would be home Italian versus book Italian.
Thank you.
Nan Juday4) I would like to know if anyone knows of a song my grandmother used to sing to me. I can only remember it as the Tick Tock Song. One line sounded like:
“Quando se qiere peccina bambina,
mia cuore tica tic, tica toc.”Mind you, I have no idea if these are the actual words or if they are spelled right! I think it meant “when you need me my pretty baby, my heart goes tick tock. Thanks for your help.
Carmen Akridge
5) Hi
I came across your site while searching for a song my nonna used to sing to me when I was little. She died in 1971 when I was six. I would lay across her lap and she would tap her fingers on my back and sing something like this:
Lena lena
sopa sopa
cuanta pena tena ungoupe
en e mene mah cuanta suThere are sections missing. It was a guessing song. How many fingers do I have on your back… kind of thing. It was such a special memory for me. I wish I could find an accurate version. She was 84 when she died. She emigrated to the US in 1907.
Lisa Sebelle
6) Hello Mama Lisa. I wander if you could help me find this song… do you know who wrote it? or who sang it?
Sorridi alla tua mamma,
amore… sorridi a che te adato il cuor…
nina nanaIt’s a very old song that my mother used to sing to me….
Thank you
Marisa7) Hi,
I have just come across your website and was wondering if you could help me?
I am after an old Italian story that my father and grandfather used to tell us when we were little. I can only remember bits and pieces. Below is some of it in English……
Once upon time there was an old man who swept the church, he found some money…….bought some milk but the mouse drank it and the old man pulled off his tail…the mouse said, give me back my tail and the man said give me back my milk…….
Hope you can help me.
Thanks
Anna8) I came across your website when trying to look for a song my grandma used to sing and hoped maybe you could help or could post this and maybe someone else would know. It’s an Italian children’s song along the same idea as “this little piggy went to market”, but it talks about a duck and as you pull each finger it says this one catches it, this one cooks it, this one eats it and so on. I can only describe the Italian as it sounds from my memory and I’m not sure of the actual spelling so if anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated. This is how I would sound it out in my head, but I would really like to know how it really goes.
Rina sta fundanelle
Ghista na ba ba della
Ghistan gop
Ghista schpen
Ghista sta goscha
Ghista sa manga
Chista digz
Bi bi bi bi nu boga min
Bi bi bi bi nu boga minThanks,
Dorothy9) I have been looking for Manzoline de Fiore and can’t find it. Any help = my mother used to sing this song all the time when we were little.
Rose Montagner Bundra
10) Hi, Mama Lisa,
Do you know of an Italian Lullaby song with the words:
“Bolla, bolla,
pane e cipolla.
Cipolla cucinare;
(name) e sudare…”Literally: “Dance, dance,
bread and onion.
Onion is cooking
and the cook is sweating!My father-in-law sang it to all our children and we just want to know more information about it. Thanks!
AnnMarie
If anyone can help out with any of these questions, please comment below. Give the number of the question you’re addressing so it’s clear which is being answered.
Thanks in advance!
-Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 11:01 am and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Italian, Italian Children's Songs, Italian Nursery Rhymes, Italy, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Readers 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.
January 24th, 2016 at 8:15 pm
HI!!
My grandmother (from Nicastro) would sing a song to us to get us to nap. It had something to do with peas and macaroni. All I remember (and this is phonetic) is:
Mano, Mano Mineli
Prepotsa porta piselli
E piselli macaroni
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
February 2nd, 2016 at 12:45 pm
My Nanny passed away a few years ago, and we were reminiscing about a rhyme she used to tell us. She used her 5 fingers and it started something like:
(pinky finger) “Questo dice mala mangiare aya nu bolo si ba?”
(roughly translated to This one says I wanna eat but have nothing.
(ring finger) “Questo dice non danga”
This one says I don’t have any (food or thing)?
Middle finger “Questo Dice, wanna rob?”
Index finger ( we never understood this one but something like. “Ka zee a napledon?
(roughly slang translated to what about the boss?
Thumb ( and she would grab and shake her thumb) – ” Amokle bee lezone”
translated to we’ll hit him in the head, or something like that…
Probably not the best nursery rhyme for Nanny to teach us, but she was old school from the old country…
March 26th, 2016 at 6:12 am
Hello,
To start thank you for having this website!:) My son’s great grandpa is from Italy, Bari to be exact. They would sing this song and I would like to teach my son to sing to his children. I have no clue the meaning either and will most likely spell it all wrong. Thank you in advance, I am very grateful.
Co-Co, Co-Co,
Cusafiga bella-bella du papa,
Oh la la.
(Repeat x3)
That’s all I can remember and Nana has since passed away to ask her. Again many thank yous.
March 30th, 2016 at 11:56 am
Hi my nonna learned a song from her mother but the only lines she knows go something like this:
nani nani poo poo, portala boom boom bebe.
anyone know this? My great grandmother was calabrese, abruzzese, and langanese?
April 11th, 2016 at 3:17 pm
My grandmother sang a song to me, then sang it for my kids, now I have a grandchild I’d like to sing it to. The song started (pardon my English!) Pizza Pizza tada, Mamma chicolata…..and ended with clapping the baby’s hands to “wee wee wee”. Any help with this would be great!!! Love the site!!!
May 31st, 2016 at 3:19 am
Hello! My great-great grandfather used to sing this song to my grandmother and she taught it to all of us. She’s starting to lose her memories, so she is having a hard time translating it for us, or even being able to spell the words but it goes like this (Spelled out phonetically because I know zero Italian).
Poo poo cavale, porto saco mamale. Mama leya, poo penda. Tra la mesa deutenstra.
From what I can remember, it’s about a donkey that falls down because his bags are too heavy and the children laugh. It’s a lap song, where you bounce the child and at the end you tip them back or slide them down your legs.
June 1st, 2016 at 12:57 am
My father-in-law, whose family came from Abruzzo, used to play a little game with infants (1-2 years old). He’d take their hands and stroke them down his face (best done with a bit of beard growth) three times saying something like:
Jimmy Jimmy Jat
Kenna mangina bey
Kena mangina panne na bey
Then he’d pat the infant’s hands on his cheeks rapidly, saying:
Veege Veege Veege all the way!
I’d love to know what the real words are to this game – and what they mean!
July 6th, 2016 at 6:41 am
I’m a Nonni now to three beautiful grands. My Nonni who immigrated to the US from the Fruglan region very northern Italy. She would bounce me on my knee and
Chant — Nina Bella _ _
Anyone know this rhyme ?
August 10th, 2016 at 6:59 pm
I’ve noticed Gabriella, on May 29,2013 was looking for the same child’s song as I, The only words I remember while my grandmother rocked me are “seda, seda” and that’s all I can remember. Can anyone help?
August 11th, 2016 at 11:50 pm
I am looking for a song that mom sang to my kids, she woul sing it and touch there nose and try to make them laugh. They were supposed to try and not laugh. It sounded like “barbadella barbadella…….
The purpose was to make the child laugh when they were trying not to
November 3rd, 2016 at 10:32 pm
My father taught me a Italian chant that was said to cause the smoke from a small fire to blow away from ones eyes. Phonetically it sounds like: “Baccala baccala boom ba ya”. Does anyone else know of this?
November 15th, 2016 at 9:29 pm
Hi Everyone,
My Great-Grandma was Sicilian and she used to sing a song or a rhyme to us that went:
(spelled phonetically)
Wooga, wooga, wooga,
El Rey la ponse looga
El Rey y la Regina
(Say child’s name) ponca geena, geena, geena
(Tickle the child’s tummy on the last line)
It was about a king and queen going to the market. Can anybody help me find the correct rhyme?
Thank you!!
Becky
December 11th, 2016 at 7:26 pm
My Sicilian grandpa played a holiday guessing game with mixed nuts. One grabs a handful and asks. “mille foo?” The reply is “Lemmi su”? Then, the asker says “Quanta su?” The above is phonetic. Can you tell me the meaning of the words?
December 26th, 2016 at 4:40 pm
My mom and grandmother from Marche used to sing a rhyme to us while we sat on their laps. They would rock us back and forth while singing, and then on the last line ‘throw’ us backward on their legs (while still holding our hands). It went something like this, but I don’t know the spelling. Does anyone know the real words?
Ciacia minaccia
Buta ..(name) piu la piazza.
La piazza dao bubu,
Buta .(name) ju ju ju.
March 1st, 2017 at 6:08 am
Would like correct spelling in Italian of the phonetic words I’m about to type. The following was a little diddy my mother and grandmother would sing…..it would go like this….Fa or Va la nonna, coo coo, mo vana or vanna papa, et ti porta boom booch, fa or va la nonna coo coo, coo coo, coo coo…..and then it would be repeated….
April 23rd, 2017 at 6:11 pm
My Nonno, and later my grandfather (his son), used to sing a nursery rhyme to us while standing us on his lap, holding our hands, and rocking us back and forth. It started something like “Se paz y talla, Baby valle scuola.” (I’m sure I totally butchered that.) At the end he’d clap out hands together and cheer “yaaay!”
I’ve searched for the real words and the rest of the song for years with no luck.
July 28th, 2017 at 4:01 pm
Hi. I’m hoping someone can help. My Nona and Mom Would sing this to me and I would sing it to my daughter. I can’t remember all the words but it goes like this:
Maruzella, Maruzella,
viena sedia la sidgitella.
la sidgitella e per bambina,
che chi dunne pane e vino
pane e vino per la bambina,
che chi brusshe la oucuuza.
La oucuuza e kina de mele
viva, viva Sain Michelle
roughly translated to
maruzella, maruzella,
come sit in the chair
the chair is for the child
what will you give her,
bread and wine
bread and wine for the child will burn her mouth
her mouth is filled with honey
***Something about heaven and the holy trinity***
December 20th, 2017 at 3:36 pm
Hi Everyone –
I came across this site looking for some help. For years I’ve heard my Great Uncle, Nana and Mother sing this song in Italian to us as kids. They would do it as bouncing us on their knees, and now they do it four our kids and they sing it. Unfortunately, none of us know what it translates to – at all. So, I’m trying to track it down and came across this site. I found this song which is close, but not how my Mom pronounces things. I know it starts with Arre, Arre, arre, but the best I can do is give you phonetic spellings of the rest. It’s going to be wrong, very wrong, but I’m really hoping you guys can finally help me translate this in the end:
My MOM’S VERSION
Arre, arre, arre (here comes the phonetics) si-mona kak-a-va
e chuch eh-mon, EH, simona call-eh-ve
A VERSION THAT I KNOW EXISTS (Naples Dialect)
Arre, arre, cavalluccio
Quanne arrive a Murchigliano
Nce accattammo nu bello ciuccio
Arre, arre, cavalluccio
January 4th, 2018 at 2:26 am
rhyme?
Do you know this Italian (Sicilian) nursery rhyme? My mother said it to her niece the other day and I had forgotten it. It’s like patty cake. The thing is that nobody knows the words. Just the sounds. It sounds something like:
manu manuzze pinuciduzze pindala rama di suzza di chiama
eh ?????? mattino mattino
viva viva di suzza bambino!
and when you say bambino you both throw your hands in the air.
June 22nd, 2018 at 12:30 pm
Hope someone might help. Early 70s my P5 class took part in a choir contest in Falkirk. One of the songs we sang was possibly Italian. I only remember the first couple of lines.
(Phonetically). E nato a si belle, a lui volu donar…
Anyone help?
September 8th, 2018 at 8:28 pm
I’m looking for info on this possible rhyme.
Liscia, liscia
The cat pees,
The dog poops,
beautiful face, beautiful face, beautiful face.
On the words Liscia, liscia, the singer rubs the child’s face.
On the last line, the singer gently smacks the child’s face.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:05 pm
Ciao!
My grandmother was from Abruzzi and used to sing this to us as children while we were on her knee:
Daci, Daci, Daci
(Child’s name) vuole ciacci
E la ciaccia non giusta
E la tola vacata
Frusti! Frusti! Frusti! (Said would lightly slapping the cheeks)
Non e la verde!
Has anyone ever heard of this song? Or know a translation?
Grazie!
March 23rd, 2019 at 11:25 pm
My mom and I have been refining the spelling of the songs and clapping games my grandparents sang to me. They were from Cimina, which is not far from Palermo. I can see how they are slightly different versions of songs found here. Here are our versions:
My grandpa would hold my palm up and make a circle with his finger…
Ca ce funtenedra
Then each finger starting with my pinky would be put down for each of the verses:
Ci vive pecuredru
chistu lu ferra
chistu lu scorcia
chistu lu cocse
e chistu lu mange
umm umm umm!
Oai une cappiduzzu
e tantu saporitu
e quannu mi laiu mettiri?
Quannu mi fazz’u zitu!
Scinnu pi lu Cassuru
Scinnu pi li Banneri
E tutti chi me ricuni
Bongiorno cavaleri!
And the version of the clapping song in our home was:
Manu manuzzi
pan e figuzzi
come si chiama?
Amy si chiama!
October 12th, 2019 at 5:54 am
Re:#3
Here are the words In the Siciliian dialect.
Batti manuzzi ca veni Papa!
Poita cusuzzi e si nni va
Poita miennuli e nuchiddi
Pi accuiddari sta picciridda / (stu picciriddu)
Saleeeeeee!*
November 4th, 2019 at 3:59 am
Looking for a song…old world war nursery rhyme from Northern Italy I believe…
The kid is sitting on the lap, hands held and it begins like…
‘Bolt-ah-lah, bolt-ah-lah saw-mah-tine
Dog-ah-lah-velah cah-val-een
Cah-Val-een…( don’t remember the rest)
This is right before the child slides down the legs of the adult.
Any help is appreciated!
December 29th, 2019 at 11:35 am
Hi! This site is amazing. I’m hoping to help my mom find a song her Sicilian grandmother sang to her. Phonetically as best she remembers it:
Fa me whoa whoa baby
Ga veni lou papa
Day vo day va day be
Fa bene lou baby
Thank you! jmjashep@comcast.net
January 23rd, 2020 at 5:24 am
Never used this site before. Mom used to sing a lullaby when I was a child with the words
Tutte le belle dorme na ca studa.
Not much to go on, but it is all I can remember.
Anyone know where this might come from?
June 20th, 2020 at 7:45 pm
In quasi-answer to Dorothy’s post (#8 above), my grandmother, from a little hill town in Apuglia, used to sing us the duck in the fountain song. I’ll copy what Dorothy posted, then how I understand & remember it:
Rina sta fundanelle
Ghista na ba ba della
Ghistan gop
Ghista schpen
Ghista sta goscha
Ghista sa manga
Chista digz
Bi bi bi bi nu boga min
Bi bi bi bi nu boga min
“Cuanta ste va la fontanella,
{ba da ba da} la paparella.
Cuesto faceva il ____;
Cuesto faceva il panne;
Cuesto _________;
Cuesto _________;
E cuesto di
‘Pippilo pi! Pippilo pi!
Io voglio mamma mi’!”
I had this all written out and can’t find it. Can only remember some of the words, and others are blank. Basically, it’s something about being at the fountain and seeing the duck swimming there. “Cuesto faceva il panne” is “This one makes the bread.” The last line translates as “I want my mamma!” My grandmother would trace a slow circle on my palm during the 2 lines at the beginning–the duck swimming in the fountain–and then gently pull each finger in turn, and would hold onto the pinky, shaking it gently & quickly back and forth for the last bit.
August 8th, 2020 at 8:57 pm
My Nonna passed away this week, and of course now would be the time I decide I want to try and remember the nursery rhymes we enjoyed when I was a kid.
Pretty sure the first two on this list are the two that she said, though my memory is a little fuzzy.
Number 1
I remember two things about this one: my grandma bouncing me on her knee like a horse, but I recall the first line being (phonetically) “ta-toon ta-toon cavallo.” Not sure what the first word was, but that’s how it sounded.
Actually, I thought number 2 and number 1 were the same, because I remember my nonna leaning over so we’d fall upside down. I know the last line was “tutti!”
November 11th, 2020 at 5:28 am
Hey everyone. Please please hello My mom passed 8 years ago and used to sing this song to me. I have seen nothing close to it so far on the site. I don’t know the correct pronunciation or dialect region, but the song is about a boy who eats an apple, then poops his pants.
Starts something like…
No una feta una ….
Ends with what sounds like
Ally zee gaga
If anyone is familiar, please it would mean the word. Family hails from Sicily
March 6th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Zu zu Cavallo
la mamma vien del ballo
cho le scazzelle piene
per dar a le putelle
puetelle non le vuol
buttemo in scavazziol
March 6th, 2021 at 7:57 pm
Does anyone know the children’s song, “O Gesu bellin bellino…..”?
March 6th, 2021 at 9:08 pm
Maria – can it be a version of this song?
Angiolin bellin bellino,
con quel capo ricciolino,
con quegli occhi pien d’amore,
Gesù mio, ti dono il cuore!
March 8th, 2021 at 2:39 am
Unfortunately, I don’t remember the words but this most certainly is as close or actually is the one. Thank you so much for this beautiful memory that my Mom sang to my son many many years ago.
I can’t wait to tell him!
March 9th, 2021 at 7:41 pm
Dear Lisa,
I am looking for the real words to a song my grandma from Naples area used to sing us. She would put us on her knees, hold our hands and rock us back and forth while singing and then tip us back on the last line.
Phonetically :
drein dreola
pane e chipotle
mane cade
mucicciada
I would love to know the real words – I do it with my grandtwins and they love it… and sign the words with me now!
Grazie,
Anne-Louise
November 5th, 2021 at 2:16 am
good evening,
Ive been searching for what seems like years and hope you might be able to help.
My grandma used to have a sort of rhyme or poem that she would say/sing to us while we sat in her lap. there was some face touching, and it ended with her gently tugging on each ear.
I dont remember much of it, but it sounded like this:
(phonetically of course)
la barbeets a da beets a da beets (she would be touching our nose at the beginning)
oongze a meech something something
there were 5 verses i think, and it ended
a da ling a da ling da ling (while gently tugging alternating on each earlobe)
April 8th, 2022 at 6:57 pm
Marisa wrote, “My Triestine mother sang a nursery rhyme that went:
Giga gi cavallo. ( maybe it was ki ka ki cavallo)
Mama vien da ballo
Con le titina piene
Per darghe le putele
Ma
Putele
Non le vuol
E butaremo in scovesogn. ( spelling)
In scovesogn le pianse
E butaremo in mar
In mar ???? E suffica e non pianse piu.
I’m not fluent in Italian/Triestine so between my memory and spelling I don’t know how accurate it is.
I know the translation is:
Giddy up horse
Mums coming home from the ball/dance
With breasts full of milk
But, the baby doesn’t want it
So throw the baby in the bin,
In the bin the baby cries so throw it in the sea
In the sea it drowns and doesn’t cry anymore.”
Does anyone know the full version? -Mama Lisa
September 6th, 2022 at 12:09 am
My Italian grandma used to put me on her knee and sing this bouncing rhyme to me and later to my kids when they were toddlers:
Baba Rince
Do mama un e
E no re
E che fa
Mangia da
E che mangia
Pane e pesche
U Panza ciu crescia (Repeat last line and tickle tummy gently)
I always took the translation of her Sicilian dialect to mean:
Little Ronce
Where is your momma
She went to the King
And what is she doing?
She’s eating there
and what is she eating
Bread and fish
Her stomach is growing.
Her stomach is growing.
Is anyone familiar with this rhyme or anything like it? I know the spelling is very far off, but I’ve always thought it might have the deeper meaning that back in the day women were the possessions of the king. The king claimed this woman, even though she was already a mother, kept her away from her existing child, and impregnated her.
March 11th, 2023 at 5:28 am
My Sicilian Great Grandmother used to sing a rhyme to us as babies. She would sit us on her lap and clap our hands together. At the end she would dip us back or tickle or something. This was in the 70’s and she spoke broken English – so no one ever could tell us more about the song and over the years, the pronunciations have gotten more and more away from what it sounded like when she did it. Here it is phonetically:
Manama nutza lay
scos scavanga un ja ney
unja ne goden godonna
(Baby’s name) go pedalana
Any takers? My mother would be floored if I could find her the real lyrics and meaning. Thanks!