Aquilone translates to "kite". It's a charming and somewhat whimsical word that evokes a sense of lightness and freedom.
In the song, it appears in the line "Il vento dondola su un aquilone" (The wind sways on a kite). This imagery creates a gentle, almost dreamlike atmosphere, contrasting with some of the more melancholic themes in the lyrics. It's a beautiful and less common word that adds a touch of poetic grace to the song.
"Neruda" is Marco Mengoni's ode to how hard it is to find the right words for love, even when the feeling itself is simple.
He starts with small, ordinary moments: the sun setting, a kite riding the wind, and the quiet admission that out of everyone he's ever met, he keeps choosing the person in front of him. People drift in and out of a life for all kinds of reasons. Some arrive with a real reason to stay, others pass through like a season and leave a mark on the way out. He compares that kind of heartbreak to an illness: painful, but never permanent, since it always fades eventually.
The chorus is the heart of the song. He wishes he had the words of Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet famous for his romantic poetry, so that saying "I love you" could feel as easy as dancing on the moon. Wine helps him loosen up at the party, but it doesn't hand him the right words, so he settles for a nickname, "Neru-Neruda," and a plain image instead: a naked soul, baring himself completely because eloquence won't come.
By the second verse the scene has shifted to something as ordinary as watching television, and even there, her name turns up inside a song. The point of "Neruda" isn't the poetry Marco doesn't have. It's that love doesn't actually need it. It just needs someone willing to stay.
Marco Mengoni is an Italian singer-songwriter born on December 25, 1988, in Ronciglione, Italy. He rose to fame in 2009 after winning the third season of "X Factor Italy," and became one of Italy's most celebrated pop and soul artists in the years that followed.
Mengoni has won the Sanremo Music Festival twice, in 2013 with "L'Essenziale" and again in 2023 with "Due Vite," which also represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest. Known for his powerful, soulful voice and emotionally direct lyrics, he has released multiple platinum-certified albums and remains one of the most streamed Italian artists both at home and internationally.