Originally published in 1886, this is a patriotic hymn for the very young, written to celebrate (and instill) the values of a newly-united Italy. A teacher, welcoming the new Southern lad to his Northern classroom, sternly intones:

‘Remember now what I am telling you. So that this could come about, that a Calabrian boy can be at home in Turin, and a boy from Turin can be at home in Reggio di Calabria, our country struggled for fifty years, and thirty thousand Italians died. You must all respect and love one another. If any of you should harm our companion because he was not born in our province, you would make yourself for ever more unworthy of raising your eyes from the ground when the tricolour goes by.’