Via Broletto 34, sung by Sergio Endrigo was played in the ninth episode of Musitaly: Femicide & Mafia.
This song is about a man in love, or even obsessed, with a woman who commits femicide.
He says in the song that she does as she wishes and that she still comes home late.
She smiles and thinks about something else as he wants to kiss her.
He has nothing only her, but if you scream down Via Broletto, 34, she won’t hear you because she sleeps with a red stain on her heart. He assassinated her, and since he is a gentleman, he will never reveal why.
Until 1981 in Italy there was a law called “honour crimes”.
It recognised the offended honour as an attenuating circumstance if someone killed their partner because of treason or something like that. It allowed the killers to receive a light sentence of three to seven years in jail.
This song, which was published in 1962, gives us a sense of what was going on at the time. Returning to the song’s conclusion:
I am a gentleman and I will never tell you the reason why I killed her.
| Label: | RCA Victor – PM45 3076, RCA Victor – PM45 – 3076 |
| Format: | Vinyl, 7″, 45 RPM |
| Country: | Italy |
| Released: | 1962 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Style: | Chanson |
Sergio Endrigo – Via Broletto 34 [Original Version]
Se passate da via Broletto
Al numero 34
Toglietevi il cappello e parlate sottovoce
Al primo piano dorme l’amore mio
È tanto bella la bimba mia
E giura sempre di amarmi tanto
Ma quando io la bacio
Lei ride e parla d’altro
O mangia noccioline
Troppe volte mi lascia solo
E torna quando le pare
E poi mi guarda appena, non dice dov’è andata
Tante volte penso di lasciarla
Io vorrei ma non posso andare
È la mia croce, la mia miseria
Ma è tutta la mia vita
Per me è tutto il mondo
È tutto quel che ho
Se passate da via Broletto
Al numero 34
Potete anche gridare, fare quello che vi pare
L’amore mio non si sveglierà
Ora dorme e sul suo bel viso
C’è l’ombra di un sorriso
Ma proprio sotto il cuore
C’è un forellino rosso
Rosso come un fiore
Sono stato io
Mi perdoni Iddio
Ma sono un gentiluomo
E a nessuno dirò il perché
A nessuno dirò il perchè
Sergio Endrigo – Via Broletto 34 [English Translation]
If you pass by Via Broletto
At number 34
Take off your hats and speak softly
On the first floor sleeps my love
So beautiful is my baby
And she swears always that she loves me so
But when I kiss her
She laughs and speaks of another
Oh she eats nuts
Too many times she leaves me alone
And comes back when she feels like it
And then she hardly looks at me, she doesn’t say where she went
So many times I think about leaving her
I’d like to but I can’t go
She’s my cross to bear, she’s my misery
But she’s my entire life
For me she’s the entire world
And everything that I have
If you pass by Via Broletto
At number 34
You can even yell, do whatever you feel like
My love won’t awaken
Now she sleeps and upon her beautiful face
There’s a hint of a smile
But right below the heart
There’s a small red hole
Red like a flower
It was me
God forgive me
But I am a gentleman
And to no one will I say why
To no one will I say why.
