"Papa Nero" ("Black Pope") is a song by the Venetian reggae band Pitura Freska, with lyrics in the Venetian language.
It was performed at the 1997 Sanremo Music Festival, and became very popular throughout Italy. It is notable for being one of the very few songs (if not the only song) in Venetian that got significant media exposure outside the Veneto region.
The lyrics are inspired on a prediction by Nostradamus that the next-to-last Pope will come from Africa. They can be read as a light-hearted anti-racist and anti-xenophobic message. Some famous verses were:
[...] [...]Perchè xe scrito, dito, stradito, dai oracołi"Since it's written, said, confirmed, by the oraclesLa piovra perderà i tentacołiThe octopusPiovra ("octopus") is an Italian slang term for the Mafia, whose demise would be an apocalyptical sign will lose its tentaclesE cascarà i tabù col penultimo Gesù</td>And the taboos will crumble with the next-to-last Jesus E el sarà un omo dal continente neroAnd he will be a man from the Black ContinentSarà vero?Could it be true?Dopo Miss Italia aver un Papa nero?After Miss Italy, shall we have a black Pope?No me par veroIt's hard to believeLit. "It doesn't seem true to me."Un Papa neroA black Popeche scolta łe me canson in venessianwho listens to my songs in VenetianPerché el xe nero africanBecause he is black African"
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