THEanthem of Italy, which in recent months we have heard played many times for the sporting successes of our country, turns 75 today. It was in fact the 12 October of the 1946 when "The Song of the Italians” (better known as “Brothers of Italy" or "National Anthem”) was chosen as the provisional national anthem, a role it retained until December 4, 2017, when a law certified its official status.
At the birth of the Italian Republic, after the referendum of 2 June 1946, the anthem was still "La canzone del Piave". However, that was really a provisional choice, and a debate arose in the political class of the time on which song to choose to represent the newborn Republic. Some would have liked to confirm”The song of the Piave”, others would have preferred the chorus “Go, thought”, taken from Verdi's Nabucco, still others argued that it would be better to commission the composition of a new piece of music. In the end, however, the proposal of the minister of the then Minister of War prevailed, Cipriano Facchinetti, which provided for the adoption of the Canto degli Italiani as the provisional anthem of the state.
The press release released 75 years ago read as follows: "On the proposal of the Minister of War it has been established that the oath of the Armed Forces to the Republic and its Head will take place on 4 November next and that, provisionally, the national anthem will be adopted Mameli's anthem".
Subsequently, Facchinetti proposed making the Canto degli Italiani official in the Constitution, which in those months was being compiled, but the initiative was not followed up.
Over the decades the Anthem of Mameli has been repeatedly subjected to heavy criticism, so much so that various initiatives have been carried out for its replacement (proposals in this sense have come not only from the secessionist Umberto Bossi, but also from the former socialist premier Bettino Craxi). However, the Canto degli Italiani has resisted every attack and since the beginning of the new millennium its popularity has continued to grow, until the 2017 law that put an end to a more than ten-year dispute.
Below, the explanation of the Inno di Mameli offered by Roberto Benigni in 2011, during the Sanremo Festival.
