Il Canto degli Italiani
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"Il Canto degli Italiani" (The Song of the Italians) also known as "Inno di Mameli" (Mameli's Hymne, from the name of the author) and "Fratelli d'Italia" (Brothers of Italy, from the incipit) is the Italian national anthem.[1]
The words were written by Goffredo Mameli in the autumn of 1847 in Genoa when he was 20-years-old. The words were later set to music by Michele Novaro in the same year. The song was successful during the Risorgimento because of hopes in the unification of the Italy. After the unification in 1861, however, the Marcia Reale was adopted as Savoy's official anthem. "Il Canto degli Italiani" became the anthem of Italy after 1946, when Italy became a republic.[2]
In 2012, a bill was pass in making schools to teach the line "Fratelli d'Italia" in the anthem.[3]
Lyrics[change | change source]
| Italian original | IPA transcription | English translation |
|---|---|---|
Fratelli d'Italia, |
[fraˈtɛlli diˈtaːlja |] |
Brothers of Italy,[N 2] |
Notes[change | change source]
- ↑ A different tense may be found: Noi siamo da secoli, "We have been for centuries".
- ↑ The Italians belong to a single people and are therefore "brothers"
- ↑ "Italy has woken up", that is, it is ready to fight.
- ↑ Scipio Africanus, winner of Battle of Zama, is brought as an example for the ability of the Roman Republic to recover from the defeat and fight valiantly and victoriously against the enemy.
- ↑ Scipione's helmet, which Italy has now worn, is a symbol of the impending struggle against the Austrian Empire oppressor
- ↑ The goddess Victoria. For a long time the goddess Vittoria was closely linked to ancient Rome, but now she is ready to dedicate herself to the new Italy for the series of wars that are necessary to drive the foreigner out of the national soil and to unify the country.
- ↑ Le porga la chioma can also be more literally translated as "Let her tender her hair to Rome" or "Tender her hair". Here the poet refers to the use, in ancient Rome, of cutting hair to slaves to distinguish them from free women who instead wore long hair. So the Victory must turn the hair to Italy to be cut off and become "slave" of it.
- ↑ The sense is that ancient Rome made, with its conquests, the goddess Victoria "its slave".
- ↑ Ancient Rome was great by God's design.
- ↑ The phrase "cohort" can also be translated more literally as "Let us tighten in a cohort". The cohort (in Latin cohors, cohortis) was a combat unit of the Roman army, tenth part of a Roman legion. This very strong military reference, reinforced by the appeal to the glory and military power of ancient Rome, once again calls all men to arms against the oppressor.
- ↑ It alludes to the call to arms of the Italian people with the aim of driving out the foreign ruler from national soil and unifying Italy, still divided into pre-unification states.
- ↑ Although the final exclamation, "Yes!", is not included in the original text, it is always used in all official occasions.
- ↑ Mameli underlines the fact that Italy, understood as the Italian region, was not united. At the time, in fact, (1847) it was still divided into nine states. For this reason, Italy had for centuries been often treated as a land of conquest.
- ↑ The hope that Italy, still divided in the pre-unification states, will finally gather under a single flag, merging into one country.
- ↑ The third verse, which is dedicated to the political thought of Giuseppe Mazzini, founder of Young Italy and Young Europe, incites the search for national unity through the help of divine providence and thanks to the participation of the entire Italian people finally united in an intent common.
- ↑ In the Battle of Legnano of 29 May 1176 the Lombard League defeated Frederick Barbarossa, here the event rises to symbolize the fight against foreign oppression. Legnano, thanks to the historic battle, is the only city, besides Rome, to be mentioned in the Italian national anthem.
- ↑ Francesco Ferruccio, symbol of the siege of Florence (2 August 1530), with which the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, wanted to bring down the Republic of Florence to restore the Medici lordship. In this circumstance, the dying Ferruccio was cowardly finished with a stab by Fabrizio Maramaldo, a captain of fortune in the service of Carlo V. "Vile, you kill a dead man", were the famous words of infamy that the hero addressed to his killer.
- ↑ Nickname of Giovan Battista Perasso who on 5 December 1746 began, with the throwing of a stone, to an officer, to the Genoese revolt that ended with the chase of the Archduchy of Austria, who had occupied the city for several months.
- ↑ The Sicilian Vespers, the Easter Monday uprising of 1282 against the French extended to all of Sicily after having begun in Palermo, unleashed by the sound of all the bells of the city.
- ↑ Mercenaries, whose use is anachronistically attributed to Austrian Empire, not valiant as the patriotic heroes, but weak as rushes.
- ↑ Austrian Empire is in decline.
- ↑ Poland, too, had been invaded by Austrian Empire, which had been dismembered with the help of Russian Empire and Kingdom of Prussia. The fate of Poland is singularly linked to that of Italy. Also Poland's anthem "Poland Is Not Yet Lost" was written in Italy and originally titled ″Song of the Polish Legions in Italy″.
- ↑ With the Russian Empire.
- ↑ A wish and an omen: the blood of oppressed peoples, who will rise up against the Austrian Empire, will mark the end.
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Italy – "Il Canto degli Italiani"". nationalanthems.me. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
- ↑ Riconoscimento del «Canto degli italiani» di Goffredo Mameli quale inno nazionale della Repubblica (2017-12-04). Gazzetta Ufficiale.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-13. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Simboli – Inno. Quirinale.it.
- ↑ Renga, Dana (5 July 2019). Mafia Movies: A Reader, Second Edition. p. 216. ISBN 978-1487520137.