Italy

Location: Capitol: Geographic coordinates:
Europe Rome 42 50 N, 12 50 E

Area total: 301,230 sq km
land: 294,020 sq km
water: 7,210 sq km

Border: total: 1,932.2 km
border countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km

Coastline: 7,600 km
Population: 57,715,625 (July 2002 est.)
Density of population: person/km sq
Nationality: noun: Italian(s)
adjective: Italian
Languages:
Ethnic groups: Italian (includes small clusters of German-, French-, and Slovene-Italians in the north and Albanian-Italians and Greek-Italians in the south)
Religions: predominately Roman Catholic with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community
Life expactancy at birth
total population: 79.25 years
male: 76.08 years
female: 82.63 years (2002 est.)
Currency: euro (EUR); Italian lira (ITL)

Government: republic

National Anthem

Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem. The anthem is also popularly known, from its first line, as Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) and, after its author, as the Inno di Mameli (Mameli's Hymn).

The words were written in 1847 by the poet Goffredo Mameli as an expression of the popular struggle for the unification and independence of Italy. His poem, set to music by Michele Novaro, enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the period of the Risorgimento (Resurgence) – the 19th-century Italian movement towards unification. Following unification in (1861), the anthem of the royal house of Savoy was adopted as a national anthem. When, in 1946, Italy became a republic, Il Canto degli Italiani was provisionally chosen as the country's new national anthem. This choice has never been officially re-examined, with the result that it has remained Italy's "temporary" anthem for more than 50 years.

Lyrics

Note: 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 episodes which were relevant when it was written.

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.
CHORUS:
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!

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Noi fummo da secoli
calpesti, derisi,
perché non siam popoli,
perché siam divisi.
Raccolgaci un'unica
bandiera, una speme:
di fonderci insieme
già l'ora suonò.
CHORUS
Uniamoci, uniamoci,
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?
CHORUS
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.
CHORUS
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.
CHORUS

English

Italian brothers,
Italy has arisen,
With Scipio's helmet
binding her head.
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,
For God has made her
The slave of Rome.
CHORUS

Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
We for centuries
Have been downtrodden and derided,
Because we are not a people,
Because we are divided.
Let one flag, one hope
Bring us together;
The hour has struck
For us to join forces.
CHORUS

Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us unite and love one another;
For union and love
Reveal to peoples
The way of the Lord
Let us swear to free
Our native soil;
If we are united under God,
Who can conquer us?
CHORUS

Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
From the Alps to Sicily,
Everywhere it is Legnano;
Every man has the heart
and hand of Ferruccio.
The children of Italy
Are all called Balilla;
Every trumpet blast
Sounds the (Sicilian) Vespers.
CHORUS

Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Mercenary swords
Are feeble reeds,
And the Austrian eagle
Has lost his plumes.
This eagle that drunk the blood
of Italy and Poland,
together with the Cossack,
But this has burned his gut.
CHORUS

Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!
Let us form a cohort,
We are ready to die!
We are ready to die!
Italy has called!