There is an empty, silent, almost ghostly Piazza Navona. It's March 2020, Italy is locked in the house, and on one of the roofs overlooking the most beautiful square in Rome a nineteen-year-old appears with an electric guitar. Is called Jacopo Mastrangelostudies at classical high school, and that evening decides to play for a city that can't even leave the house. The piece that consecrates it is Deborah's Theme Of Ennio Morriconefrom the soundtrack of Once upon a time in America. The video goes viral in a few hours and exceeds 40 million views.
Six years later, that terrace closes its doors. Saturday July 11, 2026again at sunset, Jacopo returned to play from there for the last time. Not a nostalgic reply, but a farewell: the Mastrangelo family must leave the apartment. The lease expired and was not renewed.
“Here it's all a B&B”: why Jacopo leaves the terrace in Piazza Navona
The reason is as simple as it is bitter, and he told it himself without mincing words:
«We will only be here for a few more days. We are renting, unfortunately the contract has expired and they won't renew it. It could be that it becomes a B&B, because most of them here are. The people who live in Piazza Navona or in the surrounding area can be counted on one hand. The rest are either B&Bs or offices.”
A terrace that, in addition to music, also has a history of cinema: right there Vittorio De Sica filmed a scene for one of his films. Now, in all likelihood, it will become yet another accommodation facility in a historic center that has emptied of its inhabitants.
From the lockdown to the Capitoline Hill, the parable of Jacopo Mastrangelo
After the success of that first video, Jacopo's path was filled with stages that many musicians can only dream of. The concert from the terrace of Capitol on Easter Monday 2020, at the invitation of the then mayor Virginia Raggi. The opening of the Christmas concert at Chamber of Deputies. The inauguration in worldwide vision of Cortina 2021 World Ski Championships. The Olympic Stadium for the Italian Cup final.
In between, the tributes that have gone around the web: his version of Sally was shared by Vasco Rossi in person on social media, with a message of compliments to the young guitarist “with the breathtaking view of Piazza Navona”. And then the tribute to Morricone on the day of his passing, and the one to Pino Daniele.
A self-taught path, built in the family together with the father Fabiomusician, who has always been behind the camera filming and publishing those videos.
The last concert: Ode to Joy and Oasis
For his farewell, Jacopo chose two songs with a double message. Ode to joywhich is the European anthem, as a gesture aimed at current events and Europe. AND Stop Crying Your Heart Out of the Oasis to say goodbye to the house, although, he specified, “I would like to call it a goodbye”.
«The stars are fading, but that doesn't mean they can't return one day. However, what has been remains.”
Under the terrace, listening to him for the last time, Romans and tourists. The same square that six years ago was deserted and which today, paradoxically, is so full of visitors that it has pushed away those who lived there.
The videos that made history
The original video of Deborah's theme from deserted Piazza Navona, the one that went around the world in March 2020:
The concert from the terrace of CapitolEaster Monday 2020, at the invitation of the mayor:
All of Jacopo's performances are collected on the official YouTube channel of Jacopo and Fabio Mastrangelo.
