Bella Ciao
Today is an important holiday here in Italy. Liberation Day. This day commemorates the end of Nazi occupation as well as the fall of Mussolini and his Fascist regime. It is a day normally celebrated with parades, picnics, street festivals and military jet flyovers billowing ‘il tricolore’ in their wake. While the dates of liberation varied all over Italy days following the end of WWII, on 22 April 1946, a decree pronounced ,“Per celebrare la totale liberazione del territorio italiano, il 25 aprile 1946 è dichiarato festa nazionale”. The 25th of April, became the designated day that all of Italy was officially liberated and became a day of national celebration.
Today, under a government imposed lockdown due to COVID19, this day is marked with a weighted irony.
The country is at war, not with a nefarious leader (or two), but with an invisible enemy, the Novel Coronavirus. And, similar to this time 75 years ago, we are at the precipice of being liberated from our ‘lock down’.
In 1946, when this holiday was enacted on 25 Aprile, a new Italy was launched. This day, all those years ago, represents the symbolic beginning of a revolutionary journey from a monarchy to the creation of the Italian Republic. The creation of a new, unknown future for the country began.
We, Mark and I, sit in our little borgo, listening to the birds and breeze instead of hearing the chatter of family and friends gathering in their yards festively feasting during pranzo (lunch) as in years past. We feel the irony, but know full well it’s only at the surface for us (relatively new) expats. We wonder, are people celebrating liberation inside, at home, alone, on lockdown? Are they at home singing Bella Ciao in celebration or in protest? Or are they channeling their ancestors and preparing to exit quarantine and launch a new version of Italian life?
We all anxiously await the decree that is coming. On May 3rd, we will hear Italy’s procedure for exiting our ‘Stay in Place’. A modern day decree of liberation if you will. Although, unlike 1946, there will not be celebrations. There will not be parties and parades. There will not be hugging and hoopla. And there will most certainly not be groups singing Bella Ciao together clapping in unison.
Despite the fact that we will soon be set free from our homes, we are still facing the enemy. It’s out there, silently stalking. Knowing it is out there is preventing us, okay - me, from being 100% jubilant about seeing friends, going into my beloved Siena, shopping, enjoying leisurely dinners in restaurants. We are able to move freely, but we are most certainly not free.
This 25 Aprile is different. It marks something new and unknown. I suppose that is how Italians (and most Allied forces felt) in 1945. Excited to have the darkness and sorrow of war devastation behind them, but cautiously optimistic about the future - and what the ‘new normal’ will be for them and their country. Together they crafted it. By June 2nd, 1946, they put forth a referendum that would restructure and unify the country. I take solace knowing it was done once and can be done again. A year from now, it will be a new Italy after a year of ushering in a ‘new normal’.
Personally, we are cautiously excited to venture beyond our borgo and tiny village. Keenly aware that the possibility of getting Covid19 is random and indiscriminate. We are ready to take on this ‘new normal’ and new Italy. Whatever it is…
When we have etched out the new normal, when we have reformed and unified, we will be truly liberated. We will have won the ‘war’. And I anticipate a united Italy will sing Bella Ciao louder and clapping harder than ever before - in celebration. History tells us so.
UPDATE 25 APRILE 2022: This year, we WILL take steps to return to normal. It starts today. Let liberation begin.
Bella Ciao…
The Song "Bella Ciao"—or "Goodbye Beautiful"—is an Italian folk song that was used as an anthem for the anti-fascist resistance and used worldwide as a hymn of freedom. And now, as the world quarantines throughout a global coronavirus pandemic, "Bella Ciao" has become a song of solidarity. Not just a song for Liberation Day, but for our times…
Una mattina mi son alzato
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Una mattina mi son alzato
E ho trovato l'invasor
O partigiano, portami via
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
O partigiano, portami via
Ché mi sento di morir
E se io muoio da partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
E se io muoio da partigiano
Tu mi devi seppellir
E seppellire lassù in montagna
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
E seppellire lassù in montagna
Sotto l'ombra di un bel fior
E le genti che passeranno
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
E le genti che passeranno
Mi diranno «che bel fior.»
Questo è il fiore del partigiano
O bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
Questo è il fiore del partigiano
Morto per la libertà
One morning I awakened
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!
One morning I awakened
And I found the invader
Oh partisan carry me away
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!
Oh partisan carry me away
Because I feel death approaching
And if I die as a partisan
(And if I die on the mountain)
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!
And if I die as a partisan
(And if I die on the mountain)
Then you must bury me
Bury me up in the mountain
(And you have to bury me)
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!
Bury me up in the mountain
(And you have to bury me)
Under the shade of a beautiful flower
And the people who shall pass
(And all those who shall pass)
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!
And the people who shall pass
(And all those who shall pass)
Will tell me: "what a beautiful flower"
(And they will say: "what a beautiful flower")
This is the flower of the partisan (And this is the flower of the partisan)
Oh Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful, Goodbye beautiful! Bye! Bye!This is the flower of the partisan (And this is the flower of the partisan)Who died for freedom
