Torna a Surriento

"Torna a Surriento" is a Neapolitan song said to have been composed in 1902 by Ernesto De Curtis to words by his brother, Giambattista. The song was copyrighted officially in 1905; it has since become wildly popular, and has been sung by performers as diverse as Beniamino Gigli, Elvis Presley, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Mario Lanza, Franco Corelli and Robertino Loretti.

The song was supposedly written at the request of a friend of Giambattista's, Guglielmo Tramontano, who was mayor of Sorrento in 1902 when the prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Zanardelli, stayed at his hotel in that town; it was claimed that the piece was meant to celebrate Zanardelli's stay. More recent research indicates that the song may merely have been reworked for the occasion; family papers indicate that the brothers deposited a copy with the Italian Society of Authors and Editors in 1894, eight years before they claimed to have written it.

Lyrics:

Vide 'o mare quant’è bello,

Spira tantu sentimento,

Comme tu a chi tiene mente,

Ca scetato 'o faie sunnà.

Guarda, gua’, chistu ciardino;

Siente, sie’ sti sciure arance:

Nu profumo accussi fino

Dinto 'o core se ne va…

E tu dice: "I’ parto, addio!"

T’alluntane da stu core…

Da la terra de l’ammore…

Tiene 'o core 'e nun turnà?

Ma nun me lassà,

Nun darme stu turmiento!

Torna a Surriento,

famme campà!

Vide 'o mare de Surriento,

che tesoro tene nfunno:

chi ha girato tutto 'o munno

nun l'ha visto comm'a ccà.

Guarda attuorno sti Sserene,

ca te guardano 'ncantate,

e te vonno tantu bene...

Te vulessero vasà.

E tu dice: "I' parto, addio!"

T'alluntane da stu core

Da la terra de l'ammore

Tiene 'o core 'e nun turnà?

Ma nun me lassà,

Nun darme stu turmiento!

Torna a Surriento,

Famme campà!

COME BACK TO SORRENTO (English)

Sunlight dances on the sea.

Tender thoughts occur to me.

I have often seen your eyes

In the nighttime, when I dream.

When I pass a garden fair,

And the scent is in the air

In my mind a dream awakes,

And my heart begins to break.

But you said good-bye to me.

Now all I can do is grieve.

Can it be that you forgot?

Darling, forget me not!

Please don’t say farewell

And leave this heart that’s broken.

Come back to Sorrento,

So I can mend.

ANOTHER ENGLISH VERSION:

Hear the music of the waters

Bells of tender passion sighing

Like thy heart to which go flying

All my thoughts in wakefull dream

See the lovely dewy garden

Breathing orange perfumed greetings

Nought can set my heart a-beating

Like the fragrance of its bloom

Now I hear that thou must leave me

Thou and I will soon be parted

Canst thou leave me broken hearted?

Wilst thou never more return?

Then say not 'goodbye'

Come back again, beloved

Back to Sorrento, or I must die.

There is another variation of the last stanza:

Then say not “goodbye”

Don't give me such a torment

Come back to Sorrento, or I will die.

References:

http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/06mar/article054.html

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Torna-A-Surriento-lyrics-Andrea-Bocelli/4A278D906076DE0048257226000FA56E