12 Facts About Goffredo Mameli

Goffredo Mameli is the author of the lyrics of "Il Canto degli Italiani", the national anthem of Italy.

The son of an aristocratic Sardinian admiral, Mameli was from Genoa where he was born, and where his father was in command of the fleet of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

In 1847 Goffredo Mameli joined the Societa Entelema, a cultural movement that soon would have turned to a political movement, and here he became interested in the theories of Giuseppe Mazzini.

Goffredo Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthem, Il Canto degli Italiani, better known in Italy as Inno di Goffredo Mameli.

Goffredo Mameli was deeply involved in nationalist movements and some more "spectacular" actions are remembered, such as his exposition of the Tricolore to celebrate the expulsion of Austrians in 1846.

In March 1848, hearing of the insurrection in Milan, Goffredo Mameli organised an expedition with 300 other patriots, joined Bixio's troops that were already on site, and entered the town.

Goffredo Mameli was then admitted to Garibaldi's irregular army, as a captain, and met Mazzini.

In December 1848 Goffredo Mameli reached Rome, where Pellegrino Rossi had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration of the Roman Republic.

Goffredo Mameli then went to Florence where he proposed the creation of a common state between Tuscany and Latium.

Goffredo Mameli soon left again for Rome, where the French had come to support the Papacy and took active part in the combat.

Goffredo Mameli suffered from gangrene, which doctor Pietro Maestri observed after four days.

Goffredo Mameli was originally buried at Campo Verano in Rome his remains were moved to the Mausoleo Ossario del Gianicolo in 1941.