North, South, West, East, Rome is
So big that at night it takes you, swallows you
It fucks the mind
A giant that lulls you among the cries that it doesn't hear
It buys you, sells you, raises you, puts you down
It uses you if it's needed, rewards you, loses you
Who leaves, who goes down, who bluffs, goes high
Cold as the North Pole, Sahara
In your sheets, tonight that you're not here
As naked as Rome and that's how I'd want you
From the sea it crosses the sky like thw water and the river
You've never had fears
Women like her that ties me to her ropes
Tight, going with lighted candles
As black as a Sanpietrino1, as white as marble
Like dew drops they reflect my gaze
Harsh Rome, harsh Rome
Harsh Rome
As naked as beauty, as big as Rome
Sacred and dissolute, Rome loves and it doesn't forgive
Rome eats you like a barracuda
Naked, naked, naked Rome
As naked as beauty, as big as Rome
Sacred and dissolute, Rome loves and it doesn't forgive
Rome eats you like a barracuda
Naked, naked, naked Rome
East, west, Mistral, Sirocco
Roses, winds, thorns, a toll
I stop, sunset, buildings till the sea
Seven deadly sins2, it feels like drowning
In the white and black of a memory that doesn't belong to me
In the midst of siren songs, as cold as hyenas
Where the thirst for vengeance wears tailored silks
Blessed Rome, sometimes Christ, sometimes Jude
Rome, barbarian and cultured, a complex DNA
This is what Rome does, it seduces on the entrance
As sad as a tango, in gold and mud
Rome is a pas de deaux vaulting on the asphalt
Rome is a tired face, a Madonna with tears
Jealous, intrusive, soul keeper
Curious, lazy, cheater, prayer
Rome, dirty hands in a stoup
As naked as beauty, as big as Rome
Sacred and dissolute, Rome loves and it doesn't forgive
Rome eats you like a barracuda
Naked, naked, naked Rome
As naked as beauty, as big as Rome
Sacred and dissolute, Rome loves and it doesn't forgive
Rome eats you like a barracuda
Naked, naked, naked Rome
Harsh Rome, harsh Rome
Harsh Rome
Harsh Rome, harsh Rome
Harsh Rome
As naked as beauty, as big as Rome
A careful mother that beats you and caresses you
A tired worker, a business man, a criminal
You'd want to be the favourite child tonight
But you're just like the others, tired faces at the bus stop
Eyes down, hands in the pockets, thinking back about you day
All that you have, you had to work for it
No privileges, capital mafia style
Those you have around you, they gave a price to their lives
A daily pay to get consumed, piece by piece
Then you raise your eyes, you see Rome
And those who really lives this city, find a meaning for everything again
And they don't ever want to leave, they don't ever want to leave
They don't ever want to leave
1. Sanpietrini are stones made of black basalt, they're used in the typical pavement in Rome2. "Sette vizi capitale" is a wordplay, "deadly sins" are called "vizi capitali" in Italian, changing it to "capitale" creates a tie to Rome, the capital city