Lorenzo Baglioni, “Il Congiuntivo” (2018)

“One of my favorite Italian nerd-out moments of all time is Lorenzo Baglioni’s hilarious spoo pop-rock video encouraging young viewers to learn and use the Italian subjunctive: ‘Il Congiuntivo’ (2018) is accessible on YouTube (URL included below). As the music video’s narrative arc begins, a lover is trying to woo, but uses a conditional where there should be a subjunctive. His girlfriend goes instantly from being *highly* suggestible to entirely repulsed and runs away. The lover finds a grammar book in the sand, and realizes where he went wrong. Dante comes into it toward the end, when the grammar-loving girl is weeping at home, cradling a picture of Dante, tracing his profile with manifest erotic longing. (The first time I saw this, I thought I was actually going to die laughing.) As you’ll see, not unlike in Dante’s own work, there’s a happy ending after all; this time via a full embrace of ‘il congiuntivo.'”    —Anonymous Contributor

Watch the music video for “Il Congiuntivo” here and keep an eye out for Dante at 1:11!