TRA LE LUNE E LE DUNE Lyrics in English by Giorgia
Bestiario means “bestiary”, a collection or catalogue of real and mythical animals. In the song, “nella mia testa c’è un bestiario” (“there’s a bestiary in my head”) is a striking metaphor for a mind crowded with strange, wild, and confusing thoughts, making it an especially memorable word to learn.
Giorgia opens with a game: "Tu fossi uno scenario" [if you were a scene], what would you be? Her first answer is "Saresti il mare al contrario" [you would be the sea turned upside down], and that sets the tone. This is a breakup song told through odd, dreamy pictures instead of plain complaints. Her head holds "un bestiario" [a bestiary, a book of strange beasts], "Cade il cielo e il candelabro" [the sky and the candelabra fall], and she admits "Io non so più" [I don't know anymore] who or where she is.
The geography is the fun part. She can't tell if she's at the top or the bottom of his "cuore piramidale" [pyramid-shaped heart], or lost "Nel Sahara occidentale" [in Western Sahara], the real desert region in northwest Africa. The desert keeps coming back: in the chorus she looks for him "In mezzo alle onde nere della notte" [among the black waves of the night] and in "un deserto rosso" [a red desert] that is "Lo specchio dei miei occhi vuoti, senza di te" [the mirror of my empty eyes, without you]. The title line, "Tra le lune e le dune dell'amore" [between the moons and the dunes of love], is a lovely bit of wordplay, since lune and dune differ by one letter.
My favourite moment is the bridge, where she gets blunt. He is now "solo un uomo che non sa volare" [just a man who can't fly], one who "confonde la bellezza con la pioggia" [mixes up beauty with rain], and he is "dalla parte opposta / Dell'universo, rispetto casa nostra" [on the opposite side of the universe from our home]. The crosses on the calendar ("Le croci sopra il calendario" [the crosses on the calendar]) counting the days she hasn't been missed are a small, sharp detail.
Learner tip: se tu fossi [if you were] uses the subjunctive, and saresti [you would be] is the conditional. Italian pairs them for every "what if" sentence, so this song gives you that pattern again and again.
