For centuries, song and poetry were indivisible. And even when they started to grow apart, they still stuck to the same rules of rhyme and structure for a long time Italy has a veritable wealth of songs that sing about Italy and Italians with such depth and insight that in some outstanding cases they become universal. The book analyses the development of Italian song, particularly the importance of the social contexts that affected it throughout the ages; it shows that even the study of a so-called “minor” art can complement or even replace what is told in history books.