Mimì, that's how they used to call him. The curly-haired guy, u r'zzìll (dialect).

Mimì was born in Polignano a Mare on January 9, 1928, in Piazza Caduti di Via Fani; on that day, Maestrale was blowing (a kind of cold and strong wind; a characteristic of our territory).

As a child, Mimì was terrible. He didn't obey, he was always teasing around, running up and down the stairs of the old historic center, throwing stones at the windows. Still, he used to be punished by his parents. He was an exception to the rule: A te sono mancati gli schiaffi ("You didn't get slapped", an expression used by locals to address a boy/girl with no discipline).

As a teenager, his father won a public competition and achieved the Command of the Traffic Police. So, he and his family moved to San Pietro Vernotico. From there, Domenico used to run away with his bicycle whenever he could in order to come back to Polignano a Mare: lying down on the Gozzi (local ships) of the fishermen, hanging out with his friends, looking at the stars and listening to the sea whispering from the rocks of Grottone.

His father had a beautiful voice, Mimì not that much. Still, he used to spend the whole time singing. He serenaded mostly. Always the same tune, always the same words; the only thing changing was the name of the lover.

Mimì used to gain some money - not in very earnest ways, as for example, he stole the olive oil from his father, and he sold it - but they were not enough to buy a guitar. Apparently, an accordion hung on the wall of a barbershop would have then eventually become his inseparable music instrument. After having taken it, he said: "My father will come over later".

Mimì's life was in Polignano, in between of his uncle's tobacco shop, Cala Grottone, Largo gelso, the serenedas, the gazes at the femmine (young girls) and the binges at the Supermago del Gelo ice-cream-cart by Giuseppe Campanella, the father of the ice-cream vendors Donato e Mario. As for the latter, Modugno to him was like a brother. As evidence of this, at the Bar Supermago del Gelo there are photos hanging on a wall depicting Domenico Modugno, either by his own or with his friend Mario.

But let's get back to Mimi's passion. And we mean not the music, but i femmn (the local expression for le femmine, meaning "young girls or women", as above). In "Modugno, the secrets" (original title: Modugno, la vita segreta), a book by Alberto Selvaggi, it says:

"<<Women did not let any escape from him>>, claimed some acquaintances. The wise Modugno: local girls used to last 2 or 3 weeks, while the foreigner girls on vacation 15 or 20 days at most."

It seems though, that the biggest achievements with the women occurred only when he had come back from the military service thanks to those irresistible moustaches he had been growing.

Modugno's first musical approaches took place at Grotta Palazzese (a luxurious location in Polignano at the time), and here he made a fool of himself: the piano got out of his hands and fell down the stairs of the restaurant during the transport, breaking two steps. Before this chance, he used to sneak into the concerts of the very same place with the score on one hand, pretending to be a member of the band. Then, when the show got started, he improvised off-key solos, making up words of English songs, and he got kicked out. As in the case where he was coming back from Florence by train, and the train inspectors were yelling at him because he was singing anglo-polignanesi ballads, trying to involve the other passengers with the choirs. N'zomm (local dialect expression to say "in conclusion"), Modugno was a real personaggio (another local expression meaning someone with a very eccentric personality).

At some point, Mimì left for Rome. A widow helped him entering Centro Sperimentale di Cinema (Italian National film school). As soon as he arrived, he went asking Vittorio de Sica a part in one of his movies. De Sica answered no, then Modugno tried with some other lesser film directors, and he succeeded.

But the only thing Mimì wanted was singing. Just singing. He never stopped playing. Just by ear, because he never got the chance to study music theory. But who cares?! The most important thing in songwriting is not the technique, rather the love, the passion, a good musical ear.

He broke through in Sicily, thanks to the film Carica Erotica (1952), in which he played the leading figure as a Sicilian guy. Here he has been noticed by Fulvio Palmieri, a radio director who proposed him to host a program about the region Sicily. And just like that, Domenico Modugno became also a little bit Sicilian.

In 1958, he recorded the song which made him famous worldwide: Volare. As soon as his fellow citizens heard it, the first thing they did was to call him asking where that voice came from. His answer: "I hid it". He won San Remo Festival competition, and immediately afterwards he binged on persimmons to celebrate.

People from Polignano held a grudge against Modugno. They had affection for him, as well as they felt sorry about him. One of the most serious charges to him was that he faked to be Sicilian because his career would have benefitted from that. Giacomo Calderaro (owner of Lido San Giovanni) wrote an article for Giornale d'Italia, claiming that: "Domenico Modugno, born in Polignano a Mare...". The management of the newspaper rejected it. "Everyone knows Domenico Modugno was born in Sicily", they answered.

Apart from this matter, Modugno has never forgotten his hometown Polignano a Mare. Rumor has it he bought two villas (one in Lampedusa and one in Ansedonia), because they reminded him his home.

Modugno died in Lampedusa in 1994, after a three-hour-long swim.

So, who was Mimì? He was a reprobate with Maestrale inside him. A knucklehead, the king of the pranks, little theft and street racing with cats. He liked to flirt with women. He left, he hid his background and then he came back again, this time telling the truth, that is, his songs were born after the alleys of the old town and after the sea. He wanted to fly, not just being stand still. He was restless. Maybe he was not that talented, but he was stubborn, chepa tost (the equivalent of "stubborn" in a dialect expression). It is this very thing that let him succeed: he did what he wanted, at any cost.  

More info: https://www.comune.polignanoamare.ba.it/domenico-modugno