«Torna a casa» von Måneskin: Bedeutung & Songtext

Four young Romans, a guitar that begins quietly and a name that keeps returning: Marlena. «Torna a casa» was released on 28 September 2018 by Sony Music and was the rock band Måneskin's first Italian-language ballad. The title means “Come home”, and the song entered Italy's official singles chart at No. 1.

Until then, the group was known mainly as the loud discovery from the talent show X Factor. With «Torna a casa», Måneskin showed a quieter side, and this song made them stars in Italy. Three years later, they won the Sanremo Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest.

How did «Torna a casa» come about?

Måneskin formed in Rome in 2016. Singer Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio first played as street musicians on Via del Corso, the long shopping street in the centre of the capital. In 2017, they came second on X Factor, the Italian version of the talent show.

After the rock songs «Chosen» and «Morirò da re», the band tried something new in 2018: a ballad in Italian. Victoria De Angelis told Rolling Stone Italia that they had deliberately chosen this song because it showed a side of the band that had barely been seen on X Factor. The four wrote all the album's lyrics themselves, without outside songwriters. The band produced the song with Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, their producer and manager.

On 28 September 2018, «Torna a casa» was released to radio and digitally. To mark the release, the band gave a surprise small concert in Rome's Piazza del Popolo. The song entered the FIMI trade association's singles chart at No. 1 and topped Spotify and iTunes at the same time. By March 2019, it had been certified quadruple platinum. The debut album «Il ballo della vita» followed on 26 October 2018 and also entered at No. 1.

What is «Torna a casa» about?

«Torna a casa» is a song about separation: a man who has lost his beloved asks her to come back to him. Her name is Marlena, and she had already appeared in «Morirò da re».

But there is more behind the love story. The band called Marlena their Venus, the embodiment of their freedom, creativity and life. “Marlena is us,” the four said at the release. Victoria De Angelis described the song as a call to the muse who runs like a thread through the entire album. So when you listen to «Torna a casa», you also hear a band longing for its own inspiration to return.

The Lyrics, Verse by Verse

You can find the full lyrics on Spotify and Apple Music; here we focus on their imagery. In the first verse, the narrator walks alone through his city; the wind is strong and the houses seem closed off. He finds support only with her, because she pulled him out of a wounded state. He compares their escape to Alice in Wonderland and imagines a life in which time leaves its marks.

The chorus is a single plea for Marlena to come home. It grows cold; the Italian word freddo keeps recurring, and the narrator no longer wants to wait. Without her, he fears, he will disappear.

The second verse becomes brighter and harsher at the same time. The light reveals people's weaknesses; he cries and she comforts him. He is ready to take difficult paths and declares that he will turn from a quiet observer into a storm. In the third verse, he looks back on an earlier life as an outsider in which he hurt himself. Marlena appears as liberation from glittering but confining chains. The song leaves open whether the old wounds have truly healed.

What does Måneskin's first ballad sound like?

After two rock singles, «Torna a casa» slows the pace. Instead of riffs and speed, Damiano David's rough voice carries the song; the band holds back and builds the tension slowly towards the chorus. The band itself offered fans this advice: listen with your eyes closed and your mind open.

For a group that had stood out on X Factor for rock, funk and elaborate stage performances, this was a risk. It paid off, and the song opened the way to Måneskin's first No. 1 album. The Italian Netflix series «Baby» also used the song, playing it at the end.

«Torna a casa» in the video

The official music video plays at the top of this article. Director Giacomo Triglia filmed it with the band at Villa Arconati, a Baroque country residence in Bollate north of Milan. The images alternate between the four musicians and dancers Francesca Stelladiplastica and Silvia Bonavigo. The video went online on YouTube on 1 October 2018.

Below it, you can watch a live performance for the music channel Vevo, released by the band in November 2018. Without dancers or sets, you can hear how much the song relies on Damiano's voice alone.

Available for listening on streaming services:

Who has covered «Torna a casa»?

There have hardly been any major covers by well-known stars so far; the song is closely tied to Damiano David's voice. The most original reinterpretation came from an entirely different direction. On 18 November 2021, Cugini di Campagna, the Roman pop group with falsetto voices and glittering costumes, sang a mashup on the Rai programme “Oggi è un altro giorno” of their own 1973 hit «Anima mia» and «Torna a casa».

Behind it was a playful dispute. Cugini di Campagna had previously accused Måneskin of copying their stage outfits and had already sung «Zitti e buoni». Presenter Serena Bortone asked them for a message to the band, and the answer came in the form of this duet across generations.

Rome: the city behind «Torna a casa»

Måneskin are a thoroughly Roman band. The four grew up in the capital, played on Via del Corso for spare change and introduced «Torna a casa» with a spontaneous performance on Piazza del Popolo, the large square with the Egyptian obelisk at the northern end of the Corso. Standing there means standing in the very place where this song was first heard live.

On 9 July 2022, the band returned as global stars and played at the Circo Massimo, the ancient racecourse at the foot of the Palatine Hill, before more than 70,000 people. Our overview of the Places of interest in Rome.

Conclusion: the ballad that started it all

«Torna a casa» is a love song to a woman who does not exist, and that is exactly what makes it so honest: a young band calls out for its own freedom. If you like its longing for homecoming, listen next to «Torna a Surriento», the Neapolitan song by Ernesto De Curtis that asks for a return more than a hundred years earlier. If you prefer to stay with recent Sanremo winners, you will find in «Brividi» by Mahmood and Blanco a ballad from the same generation. You can find all our song profiles in our overview of Italian music.