Goffredo Mameli

Goffredo Mameli Poems

Goffredo Mameli Biography

Goffredo Mameli (September 5, 1827 - July 6, 1849) was an Italian patriot, poet and writer, and a notable figure in the Italian Risorgimento. He is also the author of the lyrics of the current Italian national anthem. The son of an aristocratic Sardinian admiral, Mameli was born in Genoa where his father was in command of the fleet of the kingdom of Sardinia. At the age of seven he was sent to Sardinia, to his grandfather's, to escape the risk of cholera, but soon came back to Genoa to complete his studies. The achievements of Mameli's very short life are concentrated in only two years, during which time he played major parts in insurrectional movements and the Risorgimento. In 1847 Mameli joined the Società Entelema, a cultural movement that soon would have turned to a political movement, and here he became interested in the theories of Giuseppe Mazzini. Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem, Il Canto degli Italiani (music by Michele Novaro). These lyrics were used for the first time in November 1847, celebrating King Charles Albert in his visit to Genoa after his first reforms. Mameli's lyrics to a "hymn of the people"— "Suona la tromba"— were set by Giuseppe Verdi the following year. Mameli was deeply involved in nationalist movements and some more "spectacular" actions are remembered, such as his exposition of the Tricolore (current Italian flag, then prohibited) to celebrate the expulsion of Germans in 1846. Yet, he was with Nino Bixio (Garibaldi's later major supporter and friend) in a committee for public health, already on a clear Mazzinian position. In March 1848, hearing of the insurrection in Milan, Mameli organised an expedition with 300 other patriots, joined Bixio's troops that were already on site, and entered the town. He was then admitted to Garibaldi's irregular army (really the volunteer brigade of general Torres), as a captain, and met Mazzini. Back in Genoa, he worked more on a literary side, wrote several hymns and other compositions, he became the director of the newspaper Diario del Popolo ("People's Daily"), and promoted a press campaign for a war against Austria. In December 1848 Mameli reached Rome, where Pellegrino Rossi had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration (February 9, 1849) of the Roman Republic. Mameli then went to Florence where he proposed the creation of a common state between Tuscany and Latium. In April 1849 he was again in Genoa, with Bixio, where a popular insurrection was strongly opposed by General Alberto La Marmora. Mameli soon left again for Rome, where the French had come to support the Papacy (Pope Pius IX had actually escaped from the town) and took active part in the combat. Death In June, Mameli was accidentally injured in his left leg by the bayonet of one of his comrades. The wound was not serious, but an infection took hold, and after a time the leg had to be amputated. Mameli died of the infection on July 6, about two months before his 22nd birthday.)

The Best Poem Of Goffredo Mameli

Inno Nazionale Della Repubblica

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;
ché schiava di Roma
Iddio la creò.

Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Italia chiamò.

Noi siamo da secoli
calpesti, derisi,
perché non siam popolo,
perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un'unica
bandiera, una speme:
di fonderci insieme
già l'ora suonò.

Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Italia chiamò.

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?
ringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Italia chiamò.

Dall'Alpe a Sicilia,
dovunque è Legnano;
ogn'uom di Ferruccio
ha il core e la mano;
i bimbi d'Italia
si chiaman Balilla;
il suon d'ogni squilla
i Vespri suonò.

Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Italia chiamò.

Son giunchi che piegano
le spade vendute;
già l'aquila d'Austria
le penne ha perdute.

Il sangue d'Italia
e il sangue Polacco
bevé col Cosacco, ma il cor le bruciò.

Stringiamci a coorte!
Siam pronti alla morte;
Italia chiamò.

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