Faccetta Nera was written in Italy in 1935, with music by Mario Ruccione and lyrics by Giuseppe Micheli, during the build-up to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. It became one of the best known songs of the Fascist era, performed in a march style and addressed to an Abyssinian girl. After the war it remained widely recognised in Italy as a period artefact rather than a contemporary pop song. Online, the recording circulates in history discussions, documentaries and meme edits that reference 1930s Italy.