Questo nostro amore

 

Rita sings 'Questo nostro amore' at Cantagiro 1967. 

One could say 'Questo nostro amore' was Rita Pavone's swan song. Ever since she took 'La partita di pallone' to the top of the Italian charts in late 1962, she was a phenomenon of record sales not only in her native Italy but Germany, various European countries, the whole of Latin America and further afield as Japan. In 1964. She lived for a while in the United States trying to break into its recording market which is like 'mission impossible'. While she was in the US, her popularity took a nose dive in Italy, but after she was back in high summer 1964, her appearance on RAI as Gian Burrasca she was up on the top again. 

1965 was a great year with 'Stasera Rita', a TV show of her own that spawned a Number One ('Plip') and a couple of songs ('Stasera con te' and 'Solo tu') in the top 10. 

In 1966 she was on top with 'Fortissimo', the closing theme for 'Studio Uno' which she commanded for four weeks in the spring. 

1967 started well, with 2 films 'Non stuzzicate la zanzara' and 'Rita nel West' doing well at the box offices. In the summer, Rita was in competition in Cantagiro with 'Questo nostro amore' which did well even though Nicola di Bari's 'Giramondo' was the most popular tune. 

Then, out of the blue things started going downhill after Rita & Teddy announced they had been in love with each other and intended to get married in Switzerland as soon as possible. The Italian press was outraged by such a cheeck and gave a negative coverage to the event that dragged too long. Not only because the age difference between them (20 years) but mainly due to the fact that Teddy Reno was already a married man in a land which didn't have the institution of divorce.

On top of that, Teddy & Rita did the unthinkable. They left RCA Italiana and signed with Ricordi, a gambit that didn't pay off. That spelt the end of Rita's 1st stretch on the show business carousel. When they returned to RCA in 1970, the world was a whole different place.