Tintarella is a charming and very common Italian word for "suntan". It's a diminutive of tinta (tint), making it sound affectionate and playful, much like saying "little tan" in English.
In this whimsical 1959 hit, Mina sings about a girl who avoids the sun and instead gets a "Tintarella di luna"—a "moon tan". This beautiful, poetic phrase describes her pale, milky-white skin that glows under the moonlight, making her stand out from all the other sunbathers.
Ready for a moon tan? In this playful classic, the singer spots a girl who skips sunbathing and climbs onto the rooftop at night, letting silvery rays kiss her skin. While other girls bake under the hot sun—coming away red and blotchy—she bathes in cool moonlight, becoming candida (pure white) and mysteriously beautiful. The repetitive tin, tin, tin echoes the twinkle of starlight, turning the scene into a dreamy nocturnal dance.
At its heart, “Tintarella Di Luna” celebrates standing out from the crowd, choosing the unconventional path, and finding beauty in gentleness rather than intensity. The moon-loving heroine shows that individuality can be enchanting; her pale glow makes her “bella tra le belle” (the fairest among the fair). It is a light-hearted reminder that sometimes, the coolest vibes shine after sunset.
Mina was born Anna Maria Mazzini in Busto Arsizio, Lombardy, in 1940 and grew up in Cremona, which is why Italians still call her "la Tigre di Cremona". She started out in 1958 singing rock and roll in clubs, and within a couple of years she was all over Italian radio and television, with a three-octave voice that could go from a whisper to a roar in one phrase.
She is known for songs like "Tintarella di luna", "Se telefonando", "Grande, grande, grande" and "Parole parole", her talking duet with Alberto Lupo. In 1978 she gave her last public concert at Bussoladomani in Versilia, recorded as "Mina Live '78", and then stopped performing live for good. She moved to Switzerland and kept releasing an album almost every year from the studio, including a best-selling duet album with Adriano Celentano in 1998, and she is the only artist to top the Italian album chart in every decade since the 1960s.