Influences

Religion, ethnicity, and family

Madonna has cited her Catholic and Italian background as major influences in her life and career. She has also noted on various occasions that her mother's premature death left a lasting emotional burden throughout her adolescence and adulthood. As an entertainer, Madonna has occasionally touched on these subjects in her song lyrics and visual presentation.

Madonna's Catholic background and relationship with her parents were reflected in the 1989 album Like a Prayer, which features songs about her parents and Catholic upbringing. The video for the title track contains Catholic symbolism, such as the stigmata. Madonna used the crucifix as a religious accessory in the setting of the video, and was also included in the stage design of her "Confessions" tour. "Promise to Try" tells of her sadness towards the memory of her mother, while "Oh Father" is of a strict father who elicits fear in his child. In the The Virgin Tour, she wore the rosary around her neck. In the music video for "La Isla Bonita", she prays to the rosary.

She had described the name as being "very Italian", despite the fact that she was named after her French Canadian mother. The name "Madonna" is Catholic and has been referenced to The Virgin Mary, who, in the Roman Catholic Church, is often referred to as "The Madonna" and juxtaposes the two Italian words "ma", a variation on the Italian "mia" (the contextual form for the adjective "my"), and "donna", which literally translates to "my lady".

Madonna's Italian heritage has also been referenced in her work. The video for Like a Virgin, filmed in Venice, Italy, features her in Venetian settings. The "Open Your Heart" video sees her boss yelling at her in Italian. In the "Papa Don't Preach" video, Madonna wears a shirt with the slogan, "Italians Do It Better". The 1988 video release of her Who's That Girl Tour, titled Ciao, Italia! - Live From Italy, was filmed mainly in Turin, Italy. In it, Madonna performs the song Papa Don't Preach while a portrait of the Pope appears on the screen behind her. "Papa" is the Italian word for "Pope". In her 2005 documentary I'm Going To Tell You a Secret, she has been quoted as jokingly stating that she has "big, fat, Italian thighs."