Lived only 21 years, Goffredo Mameli made history writing what became the national anthem of the Italian Republic. We discover the story of his life from the passion for poetry to the desire for revolution.
Who was Goffredo Mameli
Goffredo Mameli dei Mannelli (Genoa, September 5, 1827 – Rome, July 6, 1849), was an Italian patriot.
It grows in what was then the Kingdom of Sardinia in one Noble family, raised to this title by way of Charles VI of Asbrugo who is the great-great-grandfather of Mameli consul at the Savoy court. The young man’s father stands out as a sailor, who later became an admiral, and as a deputy in the Sardinian parliament, while his mother is the daughter of an aristocratic family.
These premises allow us to understand the kind of childhood lived by Godfrey.
In fact, he first attended the Pious Schools of Genoa and then a college in the province of Savona where he began to express his romantic spirit. He is distinguished by a great talent for writing starting to compose his first verses from a very young age. Also in these years he was moved by a great patriotic spirit that led him to take part in revolutionary movements.
Goffredo Mameli and the history of the national anthem
During the demonstrations he also began to compose some verses and songs including “Ai Fratelli Bandiera” and “Dio e il popolo”, which achieved great success among colleagues including Giosuè Carducci. In 1847 he composed the “Song of the Italians”, later changed into “Inno di Mameli”. Not even twenty years old, the young man achieved what a century later was chosen as the anthem of the Italian Republic.
Mameli, however, does not support his nation only through poetry, he also does so by enlisting as a volunteer in the expedition in support of Bixio during the famous Five Days of Milan. With the failure of the riots he returned to Genoa and released “Military Inno” set to music by his colleague Giuseppe Verdi. Subsequently he goes to Rome where he deals with the military organization within the Provisional Government Council.
Goffredo Mameli and the last difficult days
When Rome is besieged, it goes in support of Garibaldi to fight in the battle of Palestrina and Velletri. Difficult clash that also leads the young man to be wounded in the leg and then transported to the Trinità hospital. The biggest problem, however, is the state of gangrene in the leg which necessarily leads to amputation.
Although the surgery seemed to have been carried out correctly, an infection arrives that leads him to get worse and worse until he dies. Thus, at the age of only 21, his life in the hospital ends, immediately joined by his father who takes care of his burial.