Bella Ciao

you will bury me over there on the mountain

under the shadow of a wonderful flower

and all the people passing by

will say “what a wonderful flower!”

e seppellire lassù in montagna
sotto l’ombra di un bel fior.
utte le genti che passeranno
mi diranno: «Che bel fior!»

These artistic lines are from a famous Italian song, Bella Ciao. In the song, a courageous man leaves his love of life behind, to fight invasion from the enemy. “Bella Ciao” translates to, “Goodbye, my beautiful.”. We might know this song from the Money Heist show, but the song carries much more emotion and history. As our friends from Europe would say, Bella Ciao is an emotion first, and a song second.

Bella Ciao originated as a folk song during the late 19th century in rural Italy. Workers near the river Po basin used to sing the “Mondine” version of this song to fight against the tough labor condition in pre-industrial Italy. We don’t have a record of the writer for the song, but I thank the genius for his/her immortal work. The wordings of the song later changed to “El Partizano”, against the fascist reign of Mussolini. Surprisingly enough, the song played a big role in the French protest, La Résistance against Nazi Germany.

Today, we hear this song as an anthem for several football clubs in Europe. The song has become a voice of communal protests across the world. The song that shook the era of Hitler and Mussolini is a very powerful tool. We better utilize it carefully, in the right ways.

Of course, I won’t leave you without the beautiful song. But before you immerse yourself in the song, I want to ask a question to all the music enthusiasts reading this article

What makes Bella Ciao so catchy and addictive? Most of the world don't understand Italian, but is hooked to the music.

Money Heist adaptation of the song