Yesterday was the final leg of our road trip through Italy until we need to drive to Rome for our return flight home. We are now in Cosenza and since it was another day of travel, I have little in the way of an adventure to share for this day. However, since traveling through Italy, I’d like to share with you the soundtrack I’ve picked up and appreciated from the radio, tv, and locals in Italy. It’s not road tripping without travel music and the Italian artists and songs I’ve had the pleasure of hearing and discovering are a revelation in their own right. Below are my top 5 Italian songs so far from Italy–music that anyone can enjoy and listen to regardless of language barrier!

1) Vivere a Colori by Alessandra Amoroso

Vivere a Colori or “Living Color” has got to be the most popular song in Italy at the moment. I actually discovered it before even coming over to Italy, falling in love and buying it on ITunes in preparation. Imagine my surprise that I actually hit a genuine goldmine with this find. It’s all over Italy–from constant radio airplay, to game shows on TV, to hearing the locals singing the chorus in the street! As for Alessandra herself, you can find her CD in rest stops all over the country too–this woman is on top of the world! She made it big 7 years ago on an Italian talent show similar to The Voice but as a more broad artistic catch all for youth aspiring to be singers, dancers, actors, presenters, etc. and attending an academy of sorts. Alessandra won and has since gone on to be the first female Italian artist to win the MTV Europe Music Award for Best European Act. I highly recommend the rest of her CD (Vivere a Colori) and especially Comunque andare or “Still going” if you dig this tune!

2) Sofia by Alvaro Soler

Okay so technically this song is Spanish but I promise that Italians don’t care and this song is all over the radio as well! I’m also not saying that Alvaro wrote this song for me but he totally did. Sure I may be a little biased to finally have a song written after me (I guess I just needed to search in Latin countries this whole time!) but this one is super peppy and catchy complete with that typical whistling thing that pretty much every alternative act copies back home. Alvaro is younger than me and kind of a big deal–he’s handsome, a Spaniard, and making bilingual hits in Spanish, Italian, and has even been messing around with Jennifer Lopez on one of his hits for the U.K./USA. Keep an eye on this one–oh, and his music I suppose.

3) Senza Fare Sul Serio by Malika Ayane 

This one I discovered on the Italian version of MTV and holy crap am I obsessed with it. First of all, it doesn’t take Goggle Translate to understand and identify with the monotony of a 9-5 work week and the excruciating way we all tend to fall into a mind numbing habit. Malika in this video looks freaking fabulous doing it though (I’m totally pumping gas in that get up when I come home) and the end of the video is pretty much exactly me and why I’m even typing to you from Italy in the first place. There is hope, everyone! Check out Malika if you love this, she reminds me of the Italian version of P!nk.

4) Eterni by Zero Assoluto

Mmmkay. I don’t even know if Italy has access in their region to Stranger Things on Netflix but if they don’t then they’re lying. And if this song wasn’t created for and inspired by the show then they are ALSO lying. What’s amazing to me about this video is that it seems that Italy as the same cultural and nostalgic yearning for the 80’s that we do–and it even looks the exact same way! …unless this is literally just Stranger Things. The lights and the letter decoder gave it away. Bah, this one is for you nerds!

5) Due Giganti by Alessio Bernabei 

I don’t really know what to say about this one other than I really want to jump around in a pool with a dude who looks good in a wet suit and maybe sounds a little like Justin Bieber meets something actually decent.