Do you know the famous happy Neapolitan song called Funiculi Funicula?
Probably you have heard it in movies or in advertisements and maybe you can even hum the melody by heart. But do you know why was this song written?
Probably you have heard it in movies or in advertisements and maybe you can even hum the melody by heart. But do you know why was this song written?
Before 1880 the only way to climb up Vesuvius to reach the crater was on foot, on the back of a donkey or horse, or by sedan-chair. Something new and more comfortable had to be invented, so three men - engineers Galanti, Sigl and Wolfart -, who had already worked on similar projects in other parts of Europe, proposed a funicular railway solution, the realization of which was assigned in 1879 to engineer Emilio Olivieri from Milan. And finally - on 6th June 1880, at about five in the afternoon, the Vesuvius funicular was inaugurated. There was much enthusiasm, but still visitors felt diffident towards funicular mechanisms, being afraid that the rope could simply snap at any moment. The majority still preferred the simple way of climbing up on donkeys back.
In summer 1880 the journalist Giuseppe Turco meets the composer Luigi Denza, and perhaps as a joke, they decide to compose a song to commemorate the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius. In a couple of hours the song Funiculi Funicula was ready. It was a huge success that contributed to diffuse Neapolitan song in the world and to recall hoards of tourists to see Vesuvius and use the now famous funicular. It could be considered one of the most successful advertisement songs ever written! Published by Casa Ricordi, the sheet music sold over a million copies in a year.
Many composers - Richard Strauss, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Arnold Schoenberg, just to name a few, used this melody in their own compositions as a reference to italian music.
Many composers - Richard Strauss, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Arnold Schoenberg, just to name a few, used this melody in their own compositions as a reference to italian music.
Unfortunatily the original funicular was destroyed by Eruption of Vesuvius in 1906. On 7th and 8th April the lower and upper station, the restaurant and the two carriages were destroyed and covered with an ash blanket 20-30 metres thick. The eruption ended on 21th April and caused a loss of volcano height, the destruction of the funicular, damage to the Vesuvius Railway and loss of human lives.
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