The "", originally named "", also known as the "Italian riff", is a tarantella song that concludes the 1852 comic opera by Luigi Ricci. It is familiar to North Americans as a quintessentially Italian musical riff or melody. It is written in the Neapolitan language, and is named after a former music festival in the Piedigrotta area of the city of Naples, Italy.
The tarantella was adapted into the 1950 song "Lucky, Lucky, Lucky Me", written by Buddy Arnold and Milton Berle, and performed by Evelyn Knight and the Ray Charles Band.
Lyrics The song's original lyrics are in the Neapolitan language. The scene of the opera in which the song appears is scene one of act three, which takes place in Pozzuoli, on the road to Piedigrotta. Lena and Manicotto (two of the main characters) dance the Neapolitan tarantella, and the townsfolk join in, lit by moonlight and accompanied by castanets and tambourines.
See also Arabian riff, "The Streets of Cairo", "The Poor Little Country Maid", "the snake charmer song" "Funiculì, Funiculà", another Italian song often used in media as a leitmotif to represent Italy Jarabe Tapatío, the "Mexican hat dance" Oriental riff, stereotypical pentatonic riff
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