Santa Lucia This type of music is called Venetian barcarolle folk songs. Santa Lucia is the port named after Saint Lucia. The song "Santa Lucia" is a Neapolitan barcarolle folk song. During the unification of Italy, Teodoro Cotlau translated it from Neapolitan into Italian in 1849 and published it as a barcarolle. It was the first Neapolitan song to be translated into Italian. Cotlau himself is often said to be the song's composer. His father was a French-born composer and song collector.