A series of class exercises for Italian language instruction based on a song, "La Vita Mia" by Amedeo Minghi, is presented. The song was selected because of its rich literary content and appealing melody. Objectives, in-class activities, and homework assignments are outlined. In them, students listen to the song, discuss the relationship of poetry and song, learn about the singer-composer, learn new vocabulary and use it in different contexts, learn terminology used to analyze poetry, use the song's content to write poems, solve a cross-word puzzle based on the song's content, learn the words of the song, sing it, and watch a videotape of themselves in performance. The lyrics of six additional songs by Minghi are appended; two are translated into English. (MSE)