UNITY OF ITALY: INNO DI MAMELI
Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem It is best known among Italians as Inno di Mameli or Fratelli d'Italia, from its opening line.
The words were written in 1847 by a 20-year-old student and patriot Goffredo Mameli when people were fighting for the unification and independence of Italy.
Two months later, they were set to music in Turin by Michele Novaro. The hymn enjoyed popularity during the period of the Risorgimento and in the following decades.
After unification, the adopted national anthem was the Royal March, the official hymn of the Royal House of Savoy composed in 1831 to order of Carlo Alberto of Savoy. The Royal March remained the Italian national anthem until Italy became a republic in 1946.
Verdi in his hymn of the Nations composed for the London international exhibition in 1862 , chose Il Canto degli Italiani to represent Italy, putting it beside God Save the Queen and the Marseillaise.
In 1946 Italy became a republic and on October 12, 1946, Il Canto degli Italiani was chosen as the country's new national anthem. This choice was made official in law only on November 17, 2005, almost 60 years later.
This is the complete text of the original poem written by Goffredo Mameli; however the Italian anthem performed on official occasions is composed of the first stanza, sung twice, and the chorus, then ends with a loud "Sì!" ("Yes!").
Let's try to understand it.
In the first stanza Italy decides to put on the helmet, Scipio's helmet. The helmet symbolizes the war against Austria and Scipio was defeated Annibal in 202 thus ending the second Punic war.
Coorte is not couryard but a unit of the Roman army! Let's gather in legions.
The third stanza is an invocation to God to protect the loving union of the Italians who are fighting to form their unified nation.
The fourth is about popular heroic figures and moments of Italian independence such as the Vespri Siciliani a rebellion against the French in 1282; the battle of Legnano; Balilla, a boy from Genova who started a revolt in 1746 by throwing a stone; Feruccio a man fro Florence who led the rebellion agaist Charles IV and was killed by an Italian: his famous sentence was: “ you are killing a dead man”.
The last stanza of the poem refers to the part played by Habsburg Austria and Czarist Russia in the partition of Poland, and its searching for independence is compared to the Italian one.
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.
CORO:
Stringiamci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò.
Stringiamci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò!
Noi fummo da secoli[13]
calpesti, derisi,
perché non siam popolo,
perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un'unica
bandiera, una speme:
di fonderci insieme
già l'ora suonò.
CORO
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?
CORO
Dall'Alpi a Sicilia
Dovunque è Legnano,
Ogn'uom di Ferruccio
Ha il core, ha la mano,
I bimbi d'Italia
Si chiaman Balilla,
Il suon d'ogni squilla
I Vespri suonò.
CORO
Son giunchi che piegano
Le spade vendute:
Già l'Aquila d'Austria
Le penne ha perdute.
Il sangue d'Italia,
Il sangue Polacco,
Bevé, col cosacco,
Ma il cor le bruciò.
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