Bella Ciao
| "Bella ciao" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| English title | Goodbye Beautiful! |
| Writer(s) | Traditional |
| Language | Italian |
"Bella ciao" is an Italian partisan song which originated during the Italian civil war. It is used worldwide as a hymn of freedom and resistance.
"Bella ciao" was sung by the anti-fascist resistance movement active in Italy between 1943 and 1945. The author of the lyrics is unknown; the music and spirit of the song is based on a folk song sung by rice-weeders on the River Po basin in the early part of the 20th century – "Alla mattina appena alzata". A version of this song was recorded for music researchers by Italian folk singer Giovanna Daffini in 1962. Other similar versions of the antecedents of "Bella ciao" appeared over the years, indicating that "Alla mattina appena alzata" must have been composed in the latter half of the 19th century. The earliest written version is dated 1906 and comes from near Vercelli, Piedmont.
Una mattina mi sono svegliato,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Una mattina mi sono svegliato,
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.
Tutte le genti che passeranno,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
Tutte le genti che passeranno,
Mi diranno «Che bel fior!»
«È questo il fiore del partigiano»,
o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
«È questo il fiore del partigiano, morto per la libertà!»
In addition to the original Italian, the song has been recorded by various artists in many different languages, including Breton, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Danish, English, Esperanto, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Persian, Kurdish, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
As a hymn of freedom internationally known it was intoned at many historic and revolutionary events. The song does not have a political alignment, but merely stands for the inherent freedom of all men to be liberated from Tyranny. The song was a crowd favorite at Romano's Macaroni Grill when they hired opera singers as waiters. The singer would usually stand on a chair and sing while the audience claps along feverishly, with the tempo increasing gradually.
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