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The son of a Sardinian admiral, Mameli was born in Genoa where his father was in command of the fleet of the kingdom of Sardinia. At the age of seven he was sent to Sardinia, to his grandfather's, to escape the risk of cholera, but soon came back to Genoa to complete his studies.
The achievements of Mameli's very short life are concentrated in only two years, during which time he played major parts in insurrectional movements and the Risorgimento.
In 1847Events January 4 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government. January 13 The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican-American War in California. January 16 John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory. Mameli joined the Società Entelema, a cultural movement that soon would have turned to a political movement, and here he started approaching to the theories of Giuseppe MazziniGiuseppe Mazzini ( June 22, 1805 March 10, 1872) was an Italian writer and politician whose efforts helped bring about the modern Italian state, rather than the medley of separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed in the nineteenth ce.
Mameli is mostly known as the author of the lyrics of the Italian national anthemA national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is formally recognized by a country's government as their state's official national song. During the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, with the rise of the national state, most count, Fratelli d'Italia (music by Michele Novaro). These lyrics were used for the first time in November 1847Events January 4 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government. January 13 The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican-American War in California. January 16 John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory., celebrating King Charles Albert in his visit to Genoa after his first reforms.
Mameli was deeply involved in nationalistic movements and some more "spectacular" actions are remembered, such as his exposition of the Tricolore (current Italian flag, then prohibited) to celebrate the expulsion of GermansThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east in 1846Events January 5 The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom February 5 The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States. February 10 Many Mormons. Yet, he was with Nino Bixio ( GaribaldiGiuseppe Garibaldi ( July 4, 1807 June 2, 1882) was a brilliant guerrilla fighter and Italy's most famous soldier of the Risorgimento. He was called the "Hero of Two Worlds" in tribute to his military adventures in both South America and Europe. He was bo's later major supporter and friend) in a committee for public health, already on a clear Mazzinian position. In March 18481848 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). Events Sri Lanka The Revolution of 1848 (qv. a series of widespread but failed struggles for more liberal governments, from Brazil to Hungary. January 24 California gold rush: Jame, hearing of the insurrection in Milan, Mameli organised an expedition with 300 other patriots, joined Bixio's troops that were already on site, and entered the town. He was then admitted in Garibaldi's irregular army (really the volunteer brigade of general Torres), as a captain, and met Mazzini.
Back in Genoa, he worked more on a literary side, wrote several hymns and other compositions, he became the director of the newspaper Diario del Popolo (People's Daily), and promoted a press campaign for a war against Austria. In December 1848 Mameli reached Rome, where Pellegrino Rossi had been murdered, helping in the clandestine works for declaration ( February 9, 1849) of the Roman republic. Mameli then went to Florence where he proposed the creation of a common state between Tuscany and Latium.
In April 1849 he was again in Genoa, with Bixio, where a popular insurrection was strongly opposed by General Alberto La Marmora . Mameli soon left again for Rome, where the French had come to support the Papacy ( Pope Pius IX had actually escaped from the town) and took active part in the combat.
In June, Mameli was accidentally injured in his left leg by the bayonet of one of his comrades; the wound was not really serious, but an infection caught him and after a time the leg had to be amputated. Mameli could resist only a few days after the surgery, and died on July 7, at the age of 22.