Volevo essere un duro (Sanremo 2025)

"Volevo essere un duro" — Lucio Corsi's Sanremo 2025 entry — is a song that arrives dressed in the clothes of another era and reveals itself as something timelessly human. The production is a loving reconstruction of 1970s Italian pop: warm analog warmth, orchestral strings arranged with cinematic generosity, a rhythm section that swings gently with the unhurried confidence of music that doesn't need to prove anything. Corsi's voice has the quality of someone telling a story he's been carrying for years — slightly theatrical in the Italian tradition of songwriting that traces back through De André and Battisti, with a melancholic whimsy that makes sadness feel companionable rather than isolating. The title translates roughly to "I wanted to be tough," and the song excavates the gap between the hardened self we construct for the world and the tender, uncertain self that persists underneath. There's specific humor threaded through — the tough-guy persona imagined in adolescence, the gradual discovery that softness isn't weakness — but Corsi handles it without condescension, treating the subject with the affection of someone still in conversation with his younger self. The listening experience is like watching an old film in a small cinema with good speakers: slightly removed from the present moment, warmly lit by nostalgia, but emotionally immediate. Perfect for Sunday mornings, rainy afternoons, and any moment when the armor feels heavier than it's worth.