Chi it was Goffredo Mameli, the author who wrote the Italian anthem? The minisere tells it Mameli – the boy who dreamed of Italy by Ago Panini and Luca Lucini, on air tonight and tomorrow at 9.30pm on Rai 1. The two episodes project into the Risorgimento, into a divided country and into the life of a nineteen year old who in 1947 wrote what was then called The Song of the Italians. A manifesto to defend the dream of a united Italy.
It is also the story of a group of young people (Nino Bixio, Geronima Ferretti, Adele Baroffio etc.) led by passion, energy and the desire to change the world for an idealeven at the cost of their lives. Mameli translates this energy into words and thanks to the notes of the Turin native Michele Novaro, The Song of the Italians it became a hymn that immediately spread from Genoa throughout Italy.
Mameli – the boy who dreamed of Italy: the plot
The Italian peninsula is divided into small states. In the North the Austrians dominate in the Lombard Kingdom of Veneto and the Savoys in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Pius IX, the last Pope King, reigns in the center, while in the south the throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies belongs to the Bourbons. NeitherIn 1947, in Genoa, in the bourgeois living rooms, the unitary ideas of Giuseppe Mazzini circulatedshared by the politics and poetry enthusiast Goffredo Memeli (Riccardo De Rinaldis), in love with the Marquis Geronima Ferretti (Barbara Venturato), with whom he shares ideas of freedom.
The two decide to get married, but for Geronima’s mother, Luisa Ferretti (Lucia Mascino), Goffredo is a dangerous subversive. Not a good match. The woman, with the help of the Jesuit Father Sinaldi (Luca Ward), organizes an arranged and clandestine marriage with the noble Stefano Giustiniano. For Goffredo and his beloved Geronima it will be a blow to the heart.
Love leaves room for a bigger dream, the union of the peninsula. Goffredo meets Nino Bixio (Amedeo Gullà), a former cabin boy and captain of merchant ships who has sailed the seas of the world since the age of 13. Thanks to him he met the members of the free society of young patriots of Genoaready to fight for a free Italy, even at the cost of dying.
Goffredo becomes their lyricist, and on the occasion of procession of the Madonna dell’Oregina writes The Song of the Italians, which is sung like a contagious wave by 30 thousand people. That anthem reached Milan during the clash with the Austrians. The revolution has begun. Mameli, together with his friends, leaves for Milan and takes up a rifle for the first time. War is no longer just a word.
Mameli, like a pop star
«Mameli is a kind of pop stars – says the young actor Riccardo De Rinaldis – uses his fame for others. He wrote The Song of the Italians to push those who loved freedom to take to the streets. Goffredo was a boy who believed in friendship, equality and freedom».
For the first time the anthem, which everyone knows today, it is sung during a religious procession, «it was like a flashmob – says one of the directors – a stadium choir rose through the streets of Genoa, dreaming of a country that didn’t yet exist». And there was someone in the crowd who he asked Mameli, the author of those powerful words, for autographs (this is not an invented fact).
Riccardo De Rinaldis and Barbara Venturato. (Courtesy Rai press office)
The cast and characters of the miniseries
There are many characters in the series. Goffredo joins a group of Entelema, a free patriotic association from Genoa, which brings together young people and students who are followers of Mazzini. Here he meets the founders Gerolamo Boccardo (Domenico Pinelli) e Stefano Castagnola (Riccardo Maria Manera). AND Nino Bixio introducing Mameli to the groupwhile Goffredo drags his lifelong friend with him into the Entelema Francesco Castiglione (Gianluca Zaccaria).
Goffredi De Rinaldis. (Courtesy Rai press office)
Neri Marcorè plays Giorgio, Goffredo’s fatherrear admiral of the Sardinian navy, married to Adelaide (Isabella Briganti), Mazzini’s childhood friend. Giorgio sympathized with Mazzini’s ideas and perhaps for this reason his career was not easy. The son of art Giovanni Crozza Sirs interprets Carlina double agent, infiltrated spy who passes information on the Entelema’s moves to the enemy.
The women of Mameli
In the heart of Goffredo Mameli it’s not just there Geronimathere is also Adele Baroffio (Chiara Celotto), a strong and independent, courageous and modern woman who supports the republican cause. His energy and character conquer Goffredo at first glance, although it takes Adele some time before giving in to the young revolutionary’s love. Theirs will be an overwhelming love, lived to the full.
Then there is Adelaide, Goffredo’s mother: a real mentor for her son and to support him she does not hesitate to enter into conflict with her husband Giorgio. The woman loves to surround herself with intellectuals and nobles with whom she can discuss politics, creating a real living room in the Mameli home.
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