Fratelli d'Italia

It was written in the fall of 1847 by Goffredo Mameli (1827-1849) who sent it to composer Michele Novaro, who wrote the music in one night; the song could make its debut on December 10 1847, on the forecourt of the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto Oregina, to celebrate the centennial of the expulsion of the Austrians from Genoa, in front of 30,000 people. After a few days, everyone knew the anthem that was sung in every event, becoming a symbol of the Risorgimento.

When the anthem was spread, authorities tried to ban it, considering it subversive (because of anti-monarchical and republican inspiration of the author); since the attempt proved a failure, they tried at least to censor the final part, extremely hard with the Austrians, but even here they failed.

After the declaration of war against Austria in 1848, military bands played it on any occasion, so that the King was forced to withdraw all the complaints of the text. Later it was the anthem that Garibaldi, when with his "Thousand" he began the conquest of southern Italy. Mameli was dead by that time, but the words of his song, which called for a united Italy, were more alive than ever.

Goffredo Mameli of Mannelli, better known simply as Goffredo Mameli, was born in Genoa (at the time Kingdom of Sardinia) on September 5, 1827 and died as a result of an infected wound in the siege of Rome on July 6 1849, at the age of 23. Among the heroes of the Italian Risorgimento, he is the author of the words of the Italian national anthem.