Italian National Anthem – The national anthem of the Italian Republic is the Canto degli Italiani, also known as the Brothers of Italy or the Inno di Mameli. Written by Goffredo Mameli and set to music by Michele Novaro, it was provisionally adopted by the Council of Ministries on 12 October 1946, but it became certified the national anthem only in 2017, after 71 years of provisional age.
Fratelli d’Italia
We owe to the city of Genoa Il Canto degli Italiani, better known as Inno di Mameli. Written in the autumn of 1847 by the then twenty-year-old student and patriot Goffredo Mameli, set to music shortly after in Turin by another Genoese, Michele Novaro, the Canto degli Italiani was born in that climate of patriotic fervor that was already a prelude to the war against Austria.
The immediacy of the verses and the impetus of the melody made it the most beloved song of unification, not only during the Risorgimento, but also in the following decades. It is no coincidence that Giuseppe Verdi, in his Hymn of Nations of 1862, entrusted the Canto degli Italiani – and not the Royal March – with the task of symbolizing our homeland, placing it alongside God Save the Queen and the Marseillaise.
It was therefore almost natural that on 12 October 1946 the Mameli anthem became the national anthem of the Italian Republic.
Today the Italian National Anthem is more pop and knwon for the Italian football team playing around the world
Italian Football Team singing Italian National Anthem
The Poet, Goffredo Mameli
Goffredo Mameli, Italian patriot and poet, was born in Genoa in 1827 and died in Rome in 1849 at the young age of 22 during the fighting for the defense of the Roman Republic.
He composed many patriotic songs including the sonnet To Carlo Alberto, the odes to the Bandiera brothers and Dante and Italy, the cantiche La Battle of Marengo, The Good News and the hymn Canto degli Italiani.
The musician, Michele Novaro
Michele Novaro was born on 23 October 1818 in Genoa, where he studied composition and singing. In 1847 he was in Turin, with a contract as second tenor and choirmaster of the Regio and Carignano theaters.
Convinced liberal, he offered his compositional talent to the cause of independence, playing dozens of patriotic songs and organizing shows to raise funds for Garibaldi’s enterprises.
Modest in nature, he took no advantage of his most famous anthem, not even after Unity. Back in Genoa, between 1864 and 1865 he founded a Popular Choral School, to which he would have dedicated all his efforts.
He died poor on 21 October 1885, and the end of his life was marked by financial difficulties and health problems. On the initiative of his former pupils, a funeral monument was erected for him in the cemetery of Staglieno, where he now rests near Mazzini’s tomb.
Italian National Anthem, The text of the hymn
The complete text of the original poem written by Goffredo Mameli follows, however the Italian hymn, as performed on every official occasion, is composed of the first verse and the chorus, repeated twice, and ends with a strong “Sì” (yes).
Canto degli Italiani – Italian National Anthem
Fratelli d’Italia,
L’Italia s’è desta;
Dell’elmo di Scipio
S’è cinta la testa.
Dov’è la Vittoria?
Le porga la chioma;
Ché schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.
Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
Noi siamo da secoli
Calpesti, derisi,
Perché non siam popolo,
Perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un’unica
Bandiera, una speme;
Di fonderci insieme
Già l’ora suonò.
Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
Uniamoci, amiamoci;
L’unione e l’amore
Rivelano ai popoli
Le vie del Signore.
Giuriamo far libero
Il suolo natio:
Uniti, per Dio,
Chi vincer ci può?
Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
Dall’Alpe a Sicilia,
Dovunque è Legnano;
Ogn’uom di Ferruccio
Ha il core e la mano;
I bimbi d’Italia
Si chiaman Balilla;
Il suon d’ogni squilla
I Vespri suonò.
Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
Son giunchi che piegano
Le spade vendute;
Già l’Aquila d’Austria
Le penne ha perdute.
Il sangue d’Italia
E il sangue Polacco
Bevé col Cosacco,
Ma il cor le bruciò.
Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
L’Italia chiamò.
