Va Pensiero…
Piazza Venezia, Roma - Festa della Repubblica (2012)
Piazza Sant’Ignazio, Rome —
It was a breezy evening in early July, the piazza was filled with locals and tourists who had gathered to watch the Banda dell’Arma dei Carabinieri in live performance.
The conductor tapped his baton, the Carabinieri raised their instruments and out poured the heart-swelling melody of Verdi’s Va Pensiero. The Italians rose to their feet, eyes gleaming, backs erect, and sang along with vigor:
Hasten thoughts on golden wings.
Hasten and rest on the densely wooded hills,
where warm and fragrant and soft
are the gentle breezes of our native land!
The banks of the Jordan we greet
and the towers of Zion.
O, my homeland, so beautiful and lost!
O memories, so dear and yet so deadly!
Golden harp of our prophets,
why do you hang silently on the willow?
Rekindle the memories of our hearts,
and speak of the times gone by!
Or, like the fateful Solomon,
draw a lament of raw sound;
or permit the Lord to inspire us
to endure our suffering!
Va’, pensiero, sull’ali dorate;
Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,
ove olezzano tiepide 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!
O membrana sì cara e fatal!
Arpa d’or dei fatidici vati,
perché muta del salice pendi?
Le memorie nel petto raccendi,
ci favella del tempo che fu!
O simile di Solima ai fati,
traggo un suono di crudo lamento;
o t’isipir il Signore un concento
che ne infonda al patire di virtù!
Moved by the scene that unfolded before me, I absorbed it all - the warm breeze, the pinkish-blue sky as the sun set, the facade of the Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio, weathered by time, but still towering magnificently over us. I thought about Italy - how its character and resilience were so well represented by that church facade.
Italy’s history has been shaped by conflict and suffering; for centuries it has been plagued by invasion, war, disease, and natural disaster. You can witness its scars in places like Piazza del Plebiscito (Naples), where bullet holes are visceral reminders of WWII, or in L’Aquila, where in 2009 an earthquake tragically razed an entire town to the ground.
They say that knotty trees make the most beautiful wood. I would argue that Italy’s knotty past has resulted in one of the world’s most beautiful cultures. When the Italian people are catapulted into times of tragedy, they respond by falling back on the sound pillars at the foundation of their culture: love of family, love of the land, and love of tradition.
The arrival of the coronavirus epidemic in Italy has ushered in yet another period of suffering and uncertainty for the Italian people. There is no way of knowing how long it will last, or how far the repercussions of this crisis will reach; however, Italy, and its people will rise again…
While it is difficult to think beyond the suffering caused by these times, the melody of Va Pensiero will soon return to fill Italy’s piazzas and move Italians to rise to their feet and sing these words in chorus as they recall with pride how they’ve overcame yet another national tragedy by remembering the spirit that unites them.
Altare della Patria, Rome
Colosseum, Roma - Festa della Repubblica (2010)