Rotary Club Morimondo Abbey

[Article by Silvia Lodi Pasini published in "Settegiorni"] – An evening dedicated to Italy or rather our national anthem, organized on Thursday evening at Villa Massari in Corbetta by the Magenta Rotary club of president Antonio Pennino. It goes without saying that the past military career of the president, brigadier general of the Bersaglieri corps of the Italian army, certainly had its weight on the club's choice to delve deeper into the theme of Mameli's anthem, inviting an expert such as Michele d'Andrea, journalist, writer and author of "The anthem revealed" to speak: a brilliant treatise focused on the Italian anthem, which thoroughly examines its genesis, the unknown background information on the author and even the similarities and differences it presents compared to the national anthems and those of some other European countries. Not a mere divertissement, however, but rather a true spotlight on the history of the Bel Paese, with particular regard to the first steps of the newborn Italy, for the unification of which thousands of young patriots gave their lives in the name of an ideal. "This evening is preparatory to the activity that the Rotary of Magenta hopes to be able to carry out: to relaunch the knowledge of our history as "civic education" in school activities - explained President Pennino -. I see in the Di Mameli anthem the root of our being Italian, because if we know our history and where Italy was born from, we are more aware as Italians. Another very important aspect to keep in mind always is that our national anthem was written by a twenty-year-old boy who decided to follow the idea of ​​the birth of our country launched by Giuseppe Mazzini and who went to sacrifice his life in the Roman Republic at just twenty-one years old.