Goffredo Mameli (; 5 September 1827 – 6 July 1849) was an Italian patriot, poet, writer and a notable figure in the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

. He is also the author of the lyrics of "

Il Canto degli Italiani "" (; "The Song of the Italians") is a canto written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, and is the current national anthem of Italy. It is best known among Italians as the "" (, "Mameli's Hymn"), after the author of the ...

", the national anthem of Italy.

Biography

The son of an aristocratic Sardinian admiral, Mameli was from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

where he was born, and where his father was in command of the

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach ...

of the Kingdom of Sardinia. At the age of seven he was sent to Sardinia, to his grandfather's place, 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

. 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 Giuseppe Mazzini (, , ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the in ...

. Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

, ''

'' (music by

Michele Novaro Michele Novaro (; 23 December 1818 – 20 October 1885) was an Italian composer. Novaro was born on 23 December 1818 in Genoa, where he studied composition and singing. Novaro is mostly known as the composer of the music of the Italian nati ...

), better known in Italy as ''Inno di Mameli'' (Mameli's Hymn). These lyrics were used for the first time in November 1847, celebrating King Charles Albert of Sardinia 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

Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...

in 1846. Yet, he was with

Nino Bixio Gerolamo "Nino" Bixio (, ; 2 October 1821 – 16 December 1873) was an Italian general, patriot and politician, one of the most prominent figures in the Italian unification. Life and career He was born Gerolamo Bixio in Genoa. While still a boy ...

(

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...

'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 Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, 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 Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In December 1848 Mameli reached Rome, where

Pellegrino Rossi Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...

had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration (9 February 1849) of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. Mameli then went to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

where he proposed the creation of a common state between

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

and

Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil ( Old Latium) on w ...

. 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 The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

( Pope Pius IX had actually escaped from the town) and took active part in the combat.

Death

During the siege of Rome, he was an aide of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who fought in Palestrina (9 May) and in Velletri (19 May). In particular he fought in the defense of the Villa del Vascello on the

Janiculum The Janiculum (; it, Gianicolo ), occasionally the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among t ...

hill. He was wounded in the left leg by the French during the last assault of 3 June at Villa Corsini, occupied by the French. However, there is a theory that he was accidentally wounded by the bayonet of a fellow soldier. Mameli suffered from gangrene, which doctor Pietro Maestri observed after four days. After a consultation with Maestri and other doctors, it was decided to amputate the leg, performed by surgeon Paolo Maria Raffaello Baroni. Despite this, the infection gradually increased to the point of causing death by

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, on 6 July 1849, at the age of 21, in the hospice of Trinità dei Pellegrini. He was originally buried at

Campo Verano The Campo Verano (Italian: ''Cimitero del Verano'') is a cemetery in Rome, Italy, founded in the early 19th century. The monumental cemetery is currently divided into sections: the Jewish cemetery, the Catholic cemetery, and the monument to the ...

in Rome, however, his remains were moved to the Mausoleo Ossario del Gianicolo in 1941.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mameli, Goffredo 1827 births 1849 deaths Writers from Genoa 19th-century Italian poets Italian male poets People of the Revolutions of 1848 Italian people of the Italian unification National anthem writers 19th-century Italian writers Accidental deaths in Italy 19th-century Italian male writers Burials at Campo Verano Italian deists