The passamezzo antico was a ground bass or chord progression popular during the Italian Renaissance and known throughout Europe in the 16th century. The progression is a variant of the double tonic: its major mode variant is known as the passamezzo moderno.
The sequence consists of two phrases as follows: (For an explanation of this notation see Chord progression)
| i | VII | i | V |
| III | VII | i V | i |
In the key of A minor this gives:
| Am | G | Am | E |
| C | G | Am E | Am |
The musical example to the upper right (labeled as measure 5) has an error in that it has an Em chord for the V chord. It should be an E (Major) chord as noted in the table above left.
The romanesca is a variant of the passamezzo antico where the first chord is chord III (i.e., a C in A minor). A famous example is "Greensleeves".
The passamezzo antico chord changes are found, knowingly or not, in modern popular music culture: Carrie Underwood's debut album Some Hearts has two examples, "Before he Cheats" (a big US hit in 2006) and "Starts with Goodbye". "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin is essentially a variant of the progression.