150 of Unity: happy birthday Italy!

[Foxy]

So on March 17th Italy will make 150 years of unity. I plan to go to Rome for the celebration. Have you got any information about the program?

Anyway in this thread I'd like to celebrate the long history of our country. Any dedication, pictures, video will be welcome and fuck Lega Nord!

This is from me, symbolic song:

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Italian

Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate;
va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
ove olezzano tepide e molli
l'aure dolci del suolo natal!

Del Giordano le rive saluta,
di Sionne le torri atterrate...
Oh mia patria sì bella e perduta!
Oh membranza sì cara e fatal!

Arpa d'or dei fatidici vati,
perché muta dal salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
ci favella del tempo che fu!

O simile di Sòlima ai fati
traggi un suono di crudo lamento,
o t'ispiri il Signore un concento
che ne infonda al patire virtù

English translation

Fly, thought, on wings of gold;
go settle upon the slopes and the hills,
where, soft and mild, the sweet airs
of our native land smell fragrant!

Greet the banks of the Jordan
and Zion's toppled towers...
Oh, my country so lovely and lost!
Oh, remembrance so dear and so fraught with despair!

Golden harp of the prophetic seers,
why dost thou hang mute upon the willow?
Rekindle our bosom's memories,
and speak of times gone by!

Mindful of the fate of Jerusalem,
either give forth an air of sad lamentation,
or else let the Lord imbue us
with fortitude to bear our sufferings!

[Foxy]

The meaning of the colour

Green: colour of hope, of the natural rights and of the mediterranean vegetation.

White: colour of catholicism, of purity, of the Alps and of their famous glaciers.

Red: colour of the blood of the people who have died for Italy.

These three colours also appeared in the Dante's Commedy, where Beatrice appears wearing a red and white dress, with a green mantel. These three colours are indeed the colours of the theological virtues (Green-hope, white-faith, red-charity). The colours rapresent therefore also the long literarian tradition of the country.

The three strips

The three vertical strips are inspired by the French flag, as Italy adopts the same ideals of the French revolution: freedom, eguality and brotherood.

[Magister Eckhart]

Remember what the colours were before the House of Savoy.

[Óttar]

Alas, America is older than Germany AND Italy!

[Foxy]

Alas, America is older than Germany AND Italy!

The funny thing is that Germans joke about the fact that Italy was united so late and it is still divided when Germany was united 10 years after Italy and it is the only one of the two using a federal system.

[Peyrol]

Alas, America is older than Germany AND Italy!

we were divided for a long time politically, but united in genetics, culture, roman heritage and art, and also in Christianity...

[Peyrol]

Remember what the colours were before the House of Savoy.

[SaxonCeorl]

Carta della Fondazione d'Italia



Roma è ostinato e l'ultimo

[Wyn]

Alas, America is older than Germany AND Italy!

And you're all just a bunch of n00bs to England (born AD 927, or earlier depending on your reckoning).

[Magister Eckhart]

You know it just occurred to me but Italy didn't really fully unite until 1870 when Lazio was finally wrested from the Church and became part of Italy. Even today, is Italy united? I mean, Corsica is in French hands, San Marino is a hold-out, and the Vatican has been legitimised by treaty.

Thoughts from the Italians?