"Il Canto degli Italiani" (, meaning "The Song of the Italians") is the Italian national anthem. The words were written by Goffredo Mameli in the autumn of 1847 in Genoa when he was just twenty years old. The author of the song died shortly after. The words were later set to music by Michele Novaro in the same year. The song was successful during the Risorgimento because of hopes in the unification of the Italy.
After the unification in 1861, however, the "Marcia Reale" was adopted as Savoy's official anthem. "Il Canto degli Italiani" became the anthem of Italy after 1946, when Italy became a republic.
In 2012, a bill was pass in making schools to teach the line "Fratelli d'Italia" in the anthem.
Lyrics
While the official lyrics are in Italian, the anthem has been translated into other regional languages, such as Neapolitan and Venetian.