«Anna e Marco» by Lucio Dalla: meaning and lyrics

Two young people from the suburbs, a nightclub, one night: «Anna e Marco» needs no more. Lucio Dalla wrote the song himself and released it in February 1979 on his album «Lucio Dalla» with RCA Italiana; the album sold more than 500,000 copies. The title simply means ‘Anna and Marco’, and those two are the subject: people who want to leave a life that has become too confining.

More than 45 years later, «Anna e Marco» is one of those songs that almost everyone in Italy can sing along to. Fiorella Mannoia and Giuliano Sangiorgi performed it in 2013 at the major memorial concert on Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore; later performers include Annalisa, Mika and Marco Masini.

How did «Anna e Marco» come about?

Lucio Dalla was born on 4 March 1943 in Bologna, the university city in Emilia-Romagna. He began as a jazz clarinettist and long wrote with the poet Roberto Roversi before starting to write his own lyrics in 1977 with «Com’è profondo il mare». The album «Lucio Dalla» was the second step along this path and made him a star.

The recording took place at Stone Castle Studios, a studio in the castle of Carimate near Como. The song was originally to be called «Sera», meaning ‘Evening’, and was considerably shorter. Producer Alessandro Colombini later said that he and Dalla rewrote the lyrics in a single night in the studio, shortly before recording. Singer-songwriter Enrico Ruggeri gave a slightly different account on television in 2019: the music had already been recorded, and Dalla had struggled with the words for a long time in the castle.

Dalla brought in arranger Gian Piero Reverberi to conduct the orchestra. Reverberi was born in Genoa in 1939 and later founded the ensemble Rondò Veneziano. He also added to the arrangement of «Anna e Marco». The album appeared in February 1979, reached number 2 on the Italian album chart and, with more than 500,000 copies sold, became the year’s best-selling album.

What is «Anna e Marco» about?

«Anna e Marco» tells the love story of two young people who are very different yet want the same thing: to escape a life that does not feel like their own. The song follows them until the moment they meet in a nightclub.

Dalla does not judge his characters. He shows the boredom of the suburbs, the bar, the group of friends and their uncertainty without turning it into an accusation. Rolling Stone Italia called the song a kind of neorealism with a happy ending, recalling postwar Italian films about ordinary people.

The Lyrics, Verse by Verse

You can find the complete lyrics on Spotify and Apple Music; here we look at their imagery. The first verse belongs to Anna. She is dissatisfied with her life, but loves to dance and shines like a star that nobody in her neighbourhood notices.

The second verse belongs to Marco. He is a restless suburban boy who spends his days at the bar or with friends and wants to get away just as Anna does. The heart of the song is already here: two people separately dream the same dream.

Then they meet in the nightclub. Anna dances freely and with abandon, Marco more awkwardly. Yet they understand each other at once and share their fears. In the end, they feel as if they are taking flight, and above everything stands the moon, the luna, a silent witness to their fate. Dalla never says where their path leads. He leaves the story open, which is precisely why it stays with you.

What does «Anna e Marco» sound like?

«Anna e Marco» is a romantic yet melancholy ballad. Dalla’s backing band Stadio, led by singer Gaetano Curreri, shaped the rhythm and guitars throughout the album. Marco Ferradini, the singer-songwriter from Como who scored his own hit in 1981 with «Teorema» , sings in the backing vocals.

Dalla said of this period that he wrote lyrics as if he were writing music. You can hear it clearly in «Anna e Marco»: the words follow the sound, not the other way round. The melody is memorable but never slick.

«Anna e Marco» on video

At the top of the article is the official audio of the 1979 studio recording from Lucio Dalla’s VEVO channel, the video service of the major record labels. Below it is the song’s official video, also from the artist’s channel.

Available for listening on streaming services:

Who has covered «Anna e Marco»?

The best-known new version was recorded on 4 March 2013, the day Dalla would have turned 70. At the memorial concert on Piazza Maggiore, broadcast live by Rai 1, the Rome-born singer Fiorella Mannoia and Giuliano Sangiorgi, lead singer of the band Negramaro, performed the song as a duet.

On 9 April 2021, pop singer Annalisa from Liguria sang «Anna e Marco» on the Rai 1 programme «Canzone segreta». It was hosted by Serena Rossi, the actress and singer from Naples who has also sung the song. Other versions are by Calabrian singer-songwriter Brunori Sas with singer Levante and British pop star Mika, who sang it with Emma Marrone, the singer from Salento, in November 2021. In December 2021, the Florentine singer-songwriter Marco Masini performed the song at a concert in Bologna.

Bologna, Lucio Dalla’s city

Dalla remained attached to his home city throughout his life, and Bologna remembers him. In the heart of the old town lies Piazza Maggiore, the large square in front of the Basilica of San Petronio and Palazzo del Podestà. That is where the 2013 memorial concert took place and «Anna e Marco» was sung as a duet. Dalla died on 1 March 2012 in Montreux, Switzerland, a few days before his 69th birthday.

Anyone walking through Bologna today finds traces of the singer everywhere: beneath the porticoes, on the squares and in songs heard from the bars. What to see in the red city and where best to eat is covered in our Bologna Travel Guide.

Conclusion: a small story that has endured

«Anna e Marco» tells the story of two unassuming people and turns a night at the nightclub into a story of longing that has lost none of its power since 1979. If you keep listening to the album, you reach its closing song «L’anno che verrà», Dalla’s famous letter to a friend. Also worth hearing is «Futura», his love story set in divided Berlin. Find all our song profiles in our overview of Italian music.