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Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem. It is best known among Italians as L'inno di Mameli (Mameli's Hymn) and sometimes referred to as Fratelli d'Italia, from its incipit.

The words were written in the autumn of 1847 in Genoa, by the then 20-year-old student and patriot Goffredo Mameli (two years before his death), in a climate of popular struggle for unification and independence of Italy which foreshadowed the war against Austria.

Two months later, they were set to music in Turin by another Genoese, Michele Novaro. The hymn enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the period of the Risorgimento (Resurgence) – and in the following decades.

After unification (1861) the adopted national anthem was the Marcia Reale (or Fanfara Reale), official hymn of the royal house of Savoy composed in 1831 to order of Carlo Alberto di Savoia. The Marcia Reale remained the Italian national anthem until the birth of the republic.

It was not by chance, however, that Giuseppe Verdi, in his Inno delle Nazioni (Hymn of the Nations), composed for the London Internation Exhibition of 1862, chose Il Canto degli Italiani – and not the Marcia Reale – to represent Italy, putting it beside God Save the Queen and the Marseillaise.

From 1922 to 1943, the fascist period, each public performance of the Marcia Reale was followed by the hymn of the Partito Nazionale Fascista, entitled Giovinezza.

On October 12, 1946, Italy became a republic, and Il Canto degli Italiani was, provisionally, chosen as the country's new national anthem. This choice was officialized in law only on November 17th, 2005, almost 60 years later.

Lyrics

This is the complete text of the original poem written by Goffredo Mameli; however the Italian anthem, as performed in every official occasion, is composed by the first part and the chorus, repeated twice, then ends with a loud "Sì!" ("Yes!"). The rest of the poem refers to relevant episodes of the Italian struggle for unification and independence.

Italian lyrics
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,
che schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.
CORO:
Stringiamoci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò.
Stringiamoci a coorte,
siam pronti alla morte.
Siam pronti alla morte,
l'Italia chiamò!

Noi fummo da secoli
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.
CORO

English translation

Brothers of Italy,
Italy has awakened,
with Scipio's helmet
She has bound her head.
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,
For God has made her
Rome's slave.
CHORUS:
Let us join in cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us join in cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!

We have been for centuries
Downtrodden and derided,
For we are not one people,
For we are divided.
Let one flag, one hope
Gather us all
For us to be unified
The hour has already struck.
CHORUS
Let us unite and love one another;
Union and love
Show the people
The way of the Lord
Let us swear to free
Our native soil;
United under God,
Who can defeat us?
CHORUS
From the Alps to Sicily,
Legnano is everywhere;
Every man of Ferruccio
Has a heart, has a hand
The children of Italy
Are called Balilla;
Every bell ring
Sounds the (Sicilian) Vespers.
CHORUS
They're reeds that bend
Mercenary swords
The Austrian eagle
Has already lost its plumes.
The blood of Italy
And that of the Poles
She drank with the Cossack,
But it burned her heart.
CHORUS