Young couples in south Philadelphia are transforming something old into something new with their take on the Italian wedding serenade. The serenade has been a tradition for hundreds of years, particularly in southern Italian regions like Naples, Puglia and Calabria.
There, it takes place the night before the wedding, where the groom and a guitarist — or a full accompaniment of accordion, mandolin player and violist if he's splurging —appear on the street outside the bride-to-be's home. They sing traditional love songs as she gazes down from her window. She eventually descends to embrace her rose-bearing husband-to-be as neighbors and family members look on.
