This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Contemporary opera’s most, well, contemporary tenor continues to court the pop world on his latest release Cieli Di Toscana. Which is not to suggest thath Andrea Bocelli is trading bars with Biggie or harmonizing with ’N Sync just yet.
Rather, he’s continuing along the same lines as 1997’s Romanza and its 1999 followup Sogno, which included contributions from Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager. Foster resurfaces on a handful of these 15 tracks, most of which eschew grand orchestral scores for lite-pop backbeats, tinkly pianos, up-to-date production flourishes, poetry read by Bono and — for some reason — Gerard Depardieu. Honestly, it all sounds like the European version of a Disney soundtrack. Thankfully, Bocelli’s always-angelic tenor and spellbinding delivery keep Cieli Di Toscana from truly becoming a Mickey Mouse affair.
