Romantica (song)

"Romantica"
Eurovision Song Contest 1960 entry
Country	Italy
Artist(s)	Renato Ranucci
As	Renato Rascel
Language	Italian
Composer(s)	Renato Rascel
Lyricist(s)	Dino Verde
Conductor	Cinico Angelini
Finals performance
Final result	8th
Final points	5
Appearance chronology
◄ "Piove (Ciao, ciao bambina)" (1959)
"Al di là" (1961) ►

"Romantica" (English: "Romantic") is a song written by Italian singer-songwriter Renato Rascel with Dino Verde. It was performed for the first time during the tenth Sanremo Music Festival in January 1960, when two different versions of the song were sung by Rascel and Italian singer Tony Dallara. Rascel performed the song as a soft ballad, while Dallara, which was considered by Italian music critics as one of the "urlatori" (screamers), a music style popular in Italy during the 1960s, gave a more powerful rendition of "Romantica". The song placed first in the competition.

The song was also chosen as the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960, where it was performed in Italian by Renato Rascel. It was performed twelfth on the night, following Germany's Wyn Hoop with "Bonne nuit ma chérie" and preceding France's Jacqueline Boyer with "Tom Pillibi". At the close of voting, it had received 5 points, placing it 8th in a field of 13.

The song span three foreign versions in 1960. Dalida's version topped the French charts for a week.

The Estonian version by the Estonian Radio Male Quartet entitled "Romantika" altered the original by skipping the introduction. For two seasons of the Estonian hit comedy talk show "Rahva Oma Kaitse", the Estonian version was featured as the end title piece. One of the editors, Mart Juur commented:"Honestly, meanwhile we haven't heard anything of the worth of Ringo Starr's "No No Song" and "Romantika" by the Male Quartet of the Estonian Radio. Look, there was a time when we used the so-called "" songs, but recently we've started to pay attention at the quality of our featured music!"