"" is a patriotic song written by Goffredo Mameli and set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, currently used as the national anthem of Italy. It is known among Italians as the ""—after the author of the lyrics—or as ""—from the song's opening line. The piece, in Bar (music)| time signature and B-flat major key, has six strophes, and a refrain sung after each. The sixth group of verses, almost never performed, recalls the text of the first strophe.
The song was popular during the unification of Italy and the following decades. However, after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the republican and Jacobin connotations of "" were difficult to reconcile with the new state's monarchic constitution. The kingdom instead chose "Marcia Reale"—the House of Savoy's official anthem—composed by order of King Charles Albert of Sardinia in 1831.
After World War II, Italy became a republic. On 12 October 1946, it chose "" as a provisional national anthem. The song would retain this role as de facto anthem of the Italian Republic, and after many unsuccessful attempts, gained de jure status on 4 December 2017.
History
Origins
thumb|[[Holographic draft of 1847 by Goffredo Mameli of the first strophe and the refrain of "Il Canto degli Italiani"]]
The text of "" was written by Goffredo Mameli, a young Genoese patriot inspired by the mass mobilizations that would lead to the revolutions of 1848 and the First Italian War of Independence. Sources differ on the precise date of the text's drafting: according to some scholars, Mameli wrote the text on 10 September 1847, while others date the composition's birth to two days prior—8 September. After discarding all extant music, on 10 November 1847 Mameli sent the text to Turin and the Genoese composer Michele Novaro, who lived at the time with the activist Lorenzo Valerio.
The poem captured Novaro and he decided to set it to music on 24 November 1847. Thirty years later, the patriot and poet Anton Giulio Barrili recalled Novaro's description of the event thus: but was eliminated by Mameli before the official debut. It read: and used a first draft of "" that differs from the final version. As its author was infamously Mazzinian, the piece was forbidden by the Piedmontese police until March 1848. Its execution was also forbidden by the Austrian police, which also pursued its singing interpretation — considered a political crime — until their empire's dissolution. On 18 December 1847, the Pisan newspaper wrote how the song evoked public spirits:
Two of Mameli's autographed manuscripts have survived to the 21st century: the first draft, with Mameli's hand annotations, at the ; and the letter, from Mameli on 10 November 1847, to Novaro, at the Museo del Risorgimento in Turin.
Novaro's autographed manuscript to the publisher is located in the Ricordi Historical Archive. The later Istituto Mazziniano sheet lacks the final strophe ("") for fear of censorship. These leaflets were to be distributed at the 10 December demonstration in Genoa. The hymn was also printed on leaflets in Genoa, by the printer Casamara.
The following decades
thumb|Edition of 1860, printed by Tito I Ricordi
"" debuted with a few months left to the revolutions of 1848. Shortly before the promulgation of the , the constitution that Charles Albert of Sardinia conceded to the Kingdom of Sardinia on 4 March 1848, political gatherings of more than ten people had become legal, and songs like "" could spread by word of mouth. Patriots from the 10 December demonstration spread the hymn all over the Italian Peninsula. It became popular among the Italian people and the ranks of the Republican volunteers. The hymn was commonly sung in most parts of Italy during demonstrations, protests and revolts as a symbol of the unification.
The Savoyard authorities censored the fifth strophe The rebels sang "" during the Five Days of Milan and at Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia's promulgation of the . Volunteers for the short-lived Roman Republic sang it, and Giuseppe Garibaldi hummed and whistled it during the defense of Rome and the flight to Venice.
Between the unification and World War I
thumb|left|upright=1.5|Propaganda poster from the 1910s with the "" score
In the 1860, the corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi used to sing the hymn in the battles against the Bourbons in Sicily and southern Italy during the Expedition of the Thousand. Giuseppe Verdi, in his ('Hymn of the Nations'), composed for the London International Exhibition of 1862, chose "" to represent Italy, putting it beside "God Save the Queen" and "".
After the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the "Royal March", composed in 1831, was chosen as the national anthem of unified Italy. "" had politically radical content, with its strong republican and Jacobin connotations, and did not combine well with the monarchical conclusion to the unification of Italy. Mameli's creed, was, however, more historical than political, and socialist and anarchist circles also regarded "" as too conservative.
upright=1.4|thumb|Front page of the of 21 May 1915: parliamentary deputies acclaimed the government's assumption of war powers with the Mameli-Novaro anthem.
The song was one of the most common songs during the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. At the Capture of Rome on 20 September 1870, the last step in Italian unification, choirs sang it together with "La bella Gigogin" and the "Royal March"; and "" received bersaglieri fanfare.
After the end of the Italian unification, "" was taught in schools, and remained popular among Italians. However, other musical pieces connected to the political and social situation of the time, such as the "" ('Hymn of the Workers') or "Goodbye to Lugano", addressed daily problems. These partly obscured the popularity of reunification hymns.
"", thanks to references to patriotism and armed struggle, Cooperation with the fascist dictatorship was now egg on the monarchy's face; a song that recalled the Italian victory in World War I could infuse courage and hope to the Royal Italian Army troops who now fought against Mussolini's Social Republic and Nazi Germany.
"" resounded in Southern Italy (freed by the Allies) and in partisan-controlled areas to the north. "", in particular, had success in anti-fascist circles, where it joined partisan songs "" and "". Some scholars believe that the success of the piece in anti-fascist circles then was decisive for its choice as provisional anthem of the Italian Republic.
Often, "" is wrongly referred to as the national anthem of the Italian Social Republic. However, Mussolini's Republic had no official anthem, playing "" and "" equally often at the ceremonies. "" retained value to the fascists only for propaganda.
Thus, Mameli's hymn was sung by both partisans and fascists.
Facchinetti also declared that a draft decree would be proposed to confirm "" as the provisional national anthem of the newly formed Republic, but did not follow up on this promise. Instead, he proposed to formalize "" in the Constitution of Italy, then being drafted.
The Constitution, finished in 1948, determined the national flag<!-- article 12 -->, but did not establish a national anthem or emblem; the latter was adopted by legislative decree on 5 May. A draft constitutional law prepared immediately afterwards sought to insert, after discussion of the national flag, the sentence "The Anthem of the Republic is the ". This law stalled as well.
"" nonetheless garnered success among the Italian diaspora: "" scores are sold in Little Italies across the Anglosphere, and "" is often played on more or less official occasions in North and South America. In particular, it was the "soundtrack" of post-WWII fundraisers in the Americas for the Italian population left devastated by the conflict.
Between 1999 and 2006, President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, began to revive "" as a national symbol of Italy. Ciampi declared that:
In August 2016, a bill was submitted to the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies to make "" Italy's national anthem, and passed out of committee in July 2017. On 15 December 2017, on law nº 181 of 4 December 2017, was published after passing both houses of Parliament, and the law came into force on 30 December 2017.
Modern changes
In 2025, President Sergio Mattarella signed a decree clarifying that the final "" ('Yes!') at the end of the chorus is no longer to be sung during the Italian national anthem, as it did not appear in the original official text written by Mameli and instead was added by Novaro.
Lyrics
thumb|Version sung in 1943 and subsequently adopted by the Italian Social Republic
thumb|Version sung by [[Mario Del Monaco in 1961]]
thumb|Full sung version
thumb|[[United States Navy Band|U.S. Navy Band instrumental version (one verse and chorus)]]
This is the complete Italian anthem text.
The first strophe presents a personification of Italy who is ready to war to become free, and shall be victorious as Rome was in ancient times, "wearing" the helmet of Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal at the final battle of the Second Punic War. It also alludes to the ancient Roman custom that slaves cut their hair short as a sign of servitude: hence the Goddess of Victory must cut her hair and enslave herself to Rome (to make Italy victorious).
In the second strophe the author complains that Italy has been a divided nation for a long time, and calls for unity. In this strophe Mameli uses three poetic and archaic words: (modern Italian: ), (modern ), (modern ).
The third strophe is an invocation to God to protect the loving union of the Italians struggling to unify their nation once and for all. The fourth strophe recalls popular heroic figures and moments of the Italian fight for independence: the battle of Legnano, the defence of Florence led by Ferruccio during the Italian Wars, the riot started in Genoa by Balilla, and the Sicilian Vespers. The fifth strophe unequivocally marks Habsburg Austria as the Italian cause's primary enemy. It also links the Polish quest for independence to the Italian one. is missing in Mameli's original draft but appears in his second manuscript. However, it was omitted in the first printed editions of the text on the leaflet. The verse joyfully announces the unity of Italy and goes on to close the song with the same six lines that conclude the initial verse, thus giving the poem a circular structure.
<div style="overflow-x:auto;">
{| class="wikitable"
!Italian lyrics
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?
(ripetere la prima strofa)
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.
(ripetere la prima strofa)
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.
(ripetere la prima strofa)
Evviva l'Italia,
dal sonno 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.
(ripetere la prima strofa)
</poem>
|<poem></poem>
|<poem>Brothers of Italy,