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‘Il Canto degli Italiani’: What the Italian national anthem means – and how to sing it

The Italian football team and its fans are known for belting out rousing renditions of the country’s national anthem before matches. But what exactly are they singing? Here’s how you can join in.

Published: 6 July 2021 15:53 CEST
Updated: 11 July 2021 10:35 CEST
‘Il Canto degli Italiani’: What the Italian national anthem means - and how to sing it
Italy fans sing the national anthem before the EURO 2020 match between Italy and Austria on June 26th. Photo: Ben STANSALL/POOL/AFP

Il Canto degli Italiani (The Song of the Italians), is better known as Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) after its opening line, or Inno di Mameli (Mameli’s Hymn) after its lyricist.

Whatever they call it, Italians have been singing this anthem for almost 75 years after the post-war government picked it in October 1946 for the new Republic.

However, since they didn’t actually write it into law at the time, the song was only made Italy’s official national anthem four years ago.

READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about Italy’s Unity Day

Usually only the first stanza is sung – twice – followed by the chorus.

All five stanzas of Mameli’s Hymn have been taught in schools since 2012, meaning most younger Italians at least will know the words.

Once you understand the lyrics you’ll see that it’s not the most lighthearted or family-friendly of songs, being almost entirely about war and death.

But at least it’s not as controversial as France’s La Marseillaise – and it has words, unlike Spain’s La Marcha Real.

So if you didn’t learn the Italian anthem at school, here’s a demonstration from the national team. The lyrics (for the short version) are translated below.

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.

Siam pronti alla morte,

l’Italia chiamò.

Stringiamci a coorte,

siam pronti alla morte.

Siam pronti alla morte,

l’Italia chiamò! Sì!

In English:

Brothers of Italy,

Italy has awoken,

Bound Scipio’s helmet upon her head.

Where is Victory? Let her bow down,

For God has made her a slave of Rome.

Let us join in a cohort,

we are ready to die.

We are ready to die,

Italy has called.

Let us join in a cohort,

We are ready to die.

We are ready to die,

Italy has called! Yes!

The longer version is translated in this video:

For members

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

7 things you should know about the Italian language

With its musicality and large vocabulary, Italian is one of the most fascinating languages on the planet. But do you know everything about it?

Published: 5 March 2024 10:19 CET
7 things you should know about the Italian language

Italian is frequently considered as one of the most beautiful languages in the world. Its musicality, intonations and smoothness make it one of the most poetic languages out there. 

This Romance language is spoken by 67 million native speakers across the globe and it’s the official language of Italy, San Marino, The Vatican (along with Latin) and Switzerland (along with German, French, and Romansh). While the Italian language, like all Romance languages, derives from Vulgar Latin, Italy’s standard form is based on the Florentine dialect from hundreds of years ago.

Though standard Italian existed prior to the Unification of Italy in 1861, Italians themselves identified more strongly with their regional dialects, a lot of which are still in existence today.

Television played a crucial role in Italians learning the language: in the 1960s, national broadcaster RAI aired Non è mai troppo tardi (‘It’s never too late’), a TV programme where Italian teacher Alberto Manzi taught Italian to his audience.

Let’s take a look at some more interesting facts about Italian.

It became Italy’s official language in 2007

Yes, you read that correctly. Exactly 146 years after the country’s unification, Italian was formally written into the constitution as being Italy’s official language. 

There is a 500-year-old institution dedicated to researching Italian

The Accademia della Crusca (literally, ‘Bran Academy’) is a Florence-based institution which focuses on Italian linguistics. Founded by five Florentine men in 1582, the institute claims it wrote the first Italian dictionary (Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca), which was first published in 1612.

The longest Italian word has 30 letters

The word in question is (get ready for it) Psiconeuroendocrinoimmunologia. It’s a medical term that studies behaviours in response to external stimuli so it is rarely used in everyday speaking. 

Another long word is precipitevolissimevolmente.

READ ALSO: The Italian version of 11 famous English sayings

It’s a superlative of the adverb ‘hastily’, or precipitevolmente in Italian. There’s even a proverb with this word: chi troppo in alto sal, cade sovente precipitevolissimevolmente (‘those who climb too high, often fall very hastily’).

Italian is not the majority language in some areas of the country

The northern region of South Tyrol has approximately 520,000 inhabitants. Of those 520,000, around 69 percent use the German language more frequently than the Italian language. Even road signs in some of the areas bordering Austria are in German. 

Another northern region, Aosta Valley, recognises French as an official language. While the ratio of French speakers to Italian speakers is not quite as high as the ratio of German speakers to Italian speakers in South Tyrol, many of the region’s signposts are in both Italian and French.

South Tyrol

A German-Italian sign reading ‘private property’ at the entrance of a vineyard in the small village of St. Michael Eppan, South Tyrol. Photo by Christof STACHE / AFP

The name of a continent comes from Italy

It is generally accepted that the name ‘America’ derives from Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who claimed that the lands fellow explorer Christopher Columbus set sail to in 1492 were in fact part of a separate continent.

A map created in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller was the first to depict this continent with the name America.

The word ‘volt’ was created by an Italian

Speaking of nouns named after people, Alessandro Volta was an Italian scientist who made a breakthrough in the late 18th century when he created his ‘voltaic pile’ – the first-ever device to provide a steady supply of electricity. His last name is where ‘volt’ (and ‘voltage’) originates from.

READ ALSO: 15 Italian words that change their entire meaning with one letter

There are only 21 letters in the Italian alphabet

The Italian alphabet, which derives from the Latin one, only contains 21 letters. Letters j, k, w, x, and y are not formally included in it, though they can often be found in words of foreign origin.

The above list is non-exhaustive. If you know any other interesting facts about the Italian language, let us know in the comments below.

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