Goffredo Mameli

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Goffredo Mameli

Goffredo Mameli (September 5, 1827 - July 7, 1849) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
patriot

Patriotism

Patriotism is commonly defined as love of and/or devotion to one's country. The word comes from the Latin language, patria, and Greek language patritha. However, patriotism has had different meanings over time, and its meaning is highly dependent upon context, geography and philosophy....
, poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
and writer

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
, and a notable figure in the Italian Risorgimento. He is also the author of the lyrics of the current Italian national anthem.

son of an aristocratic Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the Mediterranean islands#By area island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The island is surrounded by the France island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands....
n admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the military rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral....
, Mameli was born in Genoa

Genoa

Genoa is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria. The city has a population of about 610,000 and the urban area has a population of about 900,000....
where his father was in command of the fleet

Naval fleet

A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
of the kingdom of Sardinia.

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Encyclopedia

Goffredo Mameli (September 5, 1827 - July 7, 1849) was an Italian

Italy

Patriotism

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
and writer

Writer

Biography

The son of an aristocratic Sardinia

Sardinia

Admiral

Genoa

Naval fleet

A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships, and the largest formation in any navy. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land....
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

Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
, 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 started approaching to the theories of Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini

Giuseppe Mazzini , the "Soul of Italy," was an Italian patriot, philosopher and politician. His efforts helped bring about the modern Italian state in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century....
.

Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotism musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people....
, Il Canto degli Italiani
Il Canto degli Italiani

Il Canto degli Italiani is the Italy national anthem. It is best known among Italians as Inno di Mameli and often referred to as Fratelli d'Italia , from its incipit....
(music by Michele Novaro

Michele Novaro

Michele Novaro was an Italy songwriter. He composed the Italy national anthem popularly known as Inno di Mameli?which was unofficially adopted in 1946 and confirmed in 2005....
). 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

Suona la tromba

"Suona la tromba" was commissioned by Giuseppe Mazzini in 1848 as a new battle hymn for the Italian unification. Giuseppe Verdi immediately composed the work, to a text by Goffredo Mameli, for three part male chorus and orchestra....
"— were set by Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
the following year.

Mameli was deeply involved in nationalist movements and some more "spectacular" actions are remembered, such as his exposition of the Tricolore
Flag of Italy

The flag of Italy is a tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical Pale of green, white and red, with the green at the hoist side. In its current form it has been in use since 19 June 1946 and was formally adopted on 1 January 1948....
(current Italian flag, then prohibited) to celebrate the expulsion of Germans

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
in 1846. Yet, he was with Nino Bixio

Nino Bixio

Nino Bixio was an Italy soldier and politician, who fought for the Italian unification.Born in Genoa, while still a boy Bixio was compelled by his parents to embrace a career in the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia....
(Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italians military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and had to flee Italy after a failed insurrection....
'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

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, 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

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west....
. In December 1848 Mameli reached Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, where Pellegrino Rossi

Pellegrino Rossi

Pellegrino Rossi was an Italian people 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, under Pope Pius IX....
had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration (February 9, 1849) of the Roman Republic

Roman Republic (19th century)

The Roman Republic was a short-lived state established on February 9, 1849 when the theocracy Papal States were temporarily overthrown by a democratic revolution, led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi....
. Mameli then went to Florence where he proposed the creation of a common state between Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy....
and Latium

Latium

Lazio, called Latium in English language, is a Regions of Italy of central Italy, bordered by Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche to the north, Abruzzo to the east, Campania to the south, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west....
.

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

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
had come to support the Papacy (Pope Pius IX

Pope Pius IX

Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was Pope from June 16, 1846 until his death. His was the longest reign in Church history, lasting 32 years....
had actually escaped from the town) and took active part in the combat.

In June, Mameli was accidentally injured in his left leg by the bayonet

Bayonet

A bayonet is a knife-, dagger-, sword-' or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear....
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 could resist only a few days after the surgery, and died on July 7, about two months before his 22nd birthday.

Goffredo Mameli

Biography

See also

External links