Although a compilation, Romanza is considered Bocelli's breakthrough album, and remains his most commercially successful to date, topping charts all across Europe and Latin America. With over 20 million copies sold worldwide, it is the best-selling Italian album of all time, and also one of the best selling albums by a recording artist.

The album is a compilation of Bocelli's two previous pop albums, Il Mare Calmo della Sera, released in 1994, and Bocelli, released in 1995.

Being Bocelli's first album released in the United States and Canada, the album and Bocelli himself, were heavily promoted. This included Bocelli being featured in Hotel Bellagio's commercials in North America, as well as his voice being heard on its Fountain show.

PBS also played a big part in Bocelli' early success in the States, with the airing of A Night in Tuscany, Bocelli's first Great Performances special, of a concert filmed in 1997, in his native Tuscany.

In August, Bocelli first appeared at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Italy, and then at the World Youth Festiva, in Paris, where he sang, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, to an audience of 800,000 people.

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