Composed in 1898, ’O Sole Mio is among the most iconic songs to emerge from Italy. Its creation was a collaborative effort between Giovanni Capurro, a poet and journalist, and Eduardo di Capua, a composer. Capurro’s lyrics paint a vivid picture of a beautiful sunny day, a metaphor for love, hope, and longing, and an image we almost naturally associate with beautiful Naples.

The inspiration for the melody, however, came not from Naples but from Odessa in Ukraine, where di Capua was struck by the brilliance of the sunrise over the Black Sea during his travels with his father, a violinist.