Goffredo Mameli

Roman Republic (1849) Russian revolutionary democrats 1827–1849 ✕ Died of wounds

Poet of the Canto degli Italiani, Italy's national anthem, who died at 21 of a wound from the defence of Rome in 1849

Born in Genoa in 1827, the son of an aristocratic Sardinian admiral, he became interested in Mazzini's ideas in 1847 and that year wrote the words of Il Canto degli Italiani, set to music by Michele Novaro, now the national anthem of Italy. In March 1848, hearing of the insurrection in Milan, he organised an expedition of 300 patriots, entered the town and became a captain in Garibaldi's volunteers. Back in Genoa he directed the newspaper Diario del Popolo and campaigned for war against Austria, and in Rome he helped the clandestine work for the proclamation of the Roman Republic on 9 February 1849. During the siege of Rome he fought as Garibaldi's aide; wounded in the left leg by the French in the last assault on Villa Corsini on 3 June, he had the leg amputated for gangrene but died of sepsis on 6 July 1849, aged 21.

Also known as: Goffredo Mameli dei Mannelli