We found Neapolitan music in the casinos of Atlantic City; in the streets of New York's Italian neighborhoods; in the bars of the remotest corners of America, where singers who have been living in the U.S. for perhaps thirty years present themselves as having just arrived in the country.

We found it following Neapolitan singers who perform at weddings, serenades, street concerts and family reunions, and often found ourselves in unpredictable situations, with unusual people.

Neapolitan Heart is the story of a journey that a small film crew took through several North American states as well as Naples and its suburbs, in the space of one year, in search of any trace that would lead them back to the classic Neapolitan songs.

The starting point was: Do the feelings that gave birth to traditional Neapolitan music still exist? What did the lyrics of the songs express? Who are their interpreters today?

The film, with the help of images from silent movies from the period in which traditional Neapolitan music was born, focuses on several notable personalities within the Italian-
American music scene, including Jimmy Roselli, Jerry Vale and Rita Berti; as well as singers in Naples, like Mirna Doris, Enzo Gragnianiello, Maria Nazionale and Peppe Barra.
But there are also unknown musicians, genuine discoveries, both in America and the Naples, such as John Gentile, Luigi Todisco, and Francesca Marini. Traditional Neapolitan music – despite its folkloristic attributes, the rhetoric surrounding it and the nostalgia of bygone times – is still extremely popular today. Its allure transcends the songs themselves. It is one of the most climactic moments in which the real Neapolitan soul is verified.

International Premiere: Locarno, Toronto,
Margaret Mead Festival, Seoul-European Film
Festival