A directive from the Defense General Staff, based on a Quirinale decree, eliminates the final exclamation during military ceremonies. Will it be the same for sports ones too?
Not a noisy revolution, but a choice that touches a profound symbol. In official military ceremonies, from now on, the Song of the Italiansbetter known as Mameli’s anthem, will have to be performed without the celebrated “Yes!” final. An apparently minimal change, but enough to generate discontent in the barracks and to rekindle a discussion that goes well beyond the military perimeter. The directive comes from the Defense General Staffit is dated December 2 and was transmitted to all commands, from the Army to the Financial Policewith the instruction to guarantee its “scrupulous observance” in every institutional event in which the anthem is performed in the sung version.
What the new rule provides for the Mameli anthem and the final “Yes”.
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The document leaves no room for interpretation: the concluding exclamation must be omitted. The decision has its roots in a presidential decree of March 14, 2025proposed by the government and signed by president of the Republicwhich recalls the “primitive text” of the hymn written by Goffredo Mameli. According to institutional sources, it would be a philological alignment, also requested by musical circles and military bands, to conform to the version deemed most faithful to the original.
The historical and musical knot
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The issue, however, is not so linear. In the autograph manuscript of 1847, preserved at Museum of the Risorgimento in Turin, Mameli he did not enter any “Yes”. But the original musical score of Michele Novarothe one actually used and also published on official channels, clearly reports the final exclamation. Novaro didn’t add it by chance. In his notes he explained that the musical crescendo was to culminate in “a supreme cry, an oath and a war cry.” He even went so far as to ask Mameli for forgiveness for that addition, justifying it with the expressive need of the composition. Words and music have since traveled together for over 170 years, becoming one in the collective perception.
The “official” version and consolidated practice
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The execution chosen as reference by Quirinale it is that of 1961played by the tenor Mario Del Monaco: in that recording, after the lines “we are ready for death, Italy called”, the anthem continues only in music, without the final scream. An authoritative reading, certainly, but one that conflicts with decades of custom. The “Yes” has become an integral part of the anthem as it is experienced in squares, in schools, in public ceremonies and, above all, in stadiums.
And sport? The doubt remains
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The directive, it should be clarified, concerns exclusively the military ceremonies. It does not formally extend to other contexts. But the topic inevitably broadens. The national anthem is sung regularly even before major international competitions and sporting events of national importance. To this day, however, it remains it is difficult to imagine that, in the short term, sporting Italy will give up that finale loudly punctuated by athletes and fans.
La Gazzetta dello Sport
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