2 June 2026, Republic Day: the songs about Italy that tell the story of our beloved, criticized, sometimes regretted country, between dreams and disillusions.
We retraced the Italian songs that, over the decades, have tried to tell the story of our country, from the fathers of songwriting to today's rap and indie. A re-listening that involved many songs (but we chose only a few) and made one thing stand out to us: our country has rarely been sung as a homeland, in a proud way, and much more often with irony, reproach and melancholy.
THE'Mameli's anthem it remains an institutional exception, but the rest has changed a lot over time: from the disenchantment of the Seventies to the pride of the 1990 World Cup, up to the almost disoriented questions of today's songwriters.
Republic Day, Italy in music: from Mameli's anthem to the first portraits
The obligatory starting point is The Song of the Italians Of Goffredo Mameli And Michele Novarothe anthem that plays again every June 2nd. But already in the 1960s the songwriting had begun to describe a more intimate and less official Italy, as it were The sweet country Of Sergio Endrigo (1968).
It was in the Seventies that Italian music began to look the country straight in the face. Nobody does it like Rino Gaetano. But the sky is always bluer (1975) is a river of images that puts rich and poor, winners and forgotten on the same level, in a choral fresco that remains the most vivid portrait of an entire nation. Three years later, with Don't reggae anymoresigns a list-denunciation of Italian vices which, reread today, almost makes an impression due to how little it has aged.
At the end of the decade comes what remains perhaps the most beautiful declaration of love ever dedicated to the country. Long live Italy Of Francesco De Gregori (1979) shows love for Italy without hiding its wounds: “Italy is half garden and half prison“, writes the prince of songwriters. He is from the same season of commitment The locomotive Of Francesco Guccinithe rebellious and working-class Italy to be sung at the top of your lungs.
The Eighties and Nineties: between pride and disenchantment
The Eighties also took Italy beyond national borders with The Italian Of Toto Cutugno (1983), one of the best-known Italian songs in the world. Alongside pride, however, remains disenchantment: from One night in Italy Of Ivano Fossati (1986) a Sweet Italy Of Eugenio Finardi (1987), from Ok Italy Of Edoardo Bennato (1987) until Italy Of Mino Reitano (1988). They all tell, in their own way, a country that too often promises but does not deliver.
1990, the year of the World Cup on home soil, marks the peak of national pride. It resonates on the radio An Italian summer Of Gianna Nannini and Edoardo Bennatobut the following year arrives Franco Battiato to sign the clearest criticism ever. Poor country (1991) does not mince words: “Poor homeland, crushed by the abuses of power, of infamous people who don't know what modesty is“It's a song that, over thirty years later, is still cited every political season.
They close the decade In Italy it is possible of the Pooh (1992), Golden Italy Of Pierangelo Bertoli (1992), In the name of the Italian people Of Edoardo Bennato (1994), National anthem Of Luca Carboni (1995) e The land of persimmons Of Elio and the Tense Stories (1996).
From 2000 to today: the country of the new generations
In the new century the gaze becomes more intimate and disillusioned. Goodnight to Italy Of Ligabue (2002) describes an Italy that is “difficult to wake up”, loved and rebuked in the same breath. Giorgio Gabershortly before his death, he leaves his will on the subject with I don't feel Italian (2003), a bitter and ironic balance sheet of a complicated identity which ends, however, with a “but maybe yes”.
Then comes rap, which the country talks about from the perspective of those who feel on the margins. In Italy Of Fabri Fibra (2008) focuses on national hypocrisies and fears with a coldness that caused discussion and which once again made itself heard, with Emmain 2024.
Piero's Italy Of Simone Cristicchi (2007) instead talks about the country through the gaze of an ordinary Italian, something that he Article 31 they had their way with Average Italian (2004). Among the most recent we find Where is Italy Of Motta (2019), which gives voice to a generation still searching for its own country.
No, we haven't forgotten…
Among the least happy episodes in memory of the history of Sanremo but also Italian music, there is Italy my love Of Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto And Luca Canonici (2010). A song that, instead of becoming the symbol of patriotism, became that of a Sanremo unclear, with his second place and the statements made by Pupo in the following years.
Many songs and one certainty: describing a country even when it disappoints is a sign of love, perhaps unrequited or ended badly, but it is certainly not indifference. What is the song that best says what Italy is for you?
