J Smooth in Florence: Happy Birthday Italy!

While people in Dublin, New York and Chicago were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, Italy was celebrating a little something different. On March 17, 1861, King Victor Emanuel II of the kingdom of Piedmont united all the kingdoms of Italy to create what we know today as Italy. So to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of this event, the country created a new national holiday, letting out all schools, including mine, and calling for celebrations similar to our 4th of July.

No time was wasted in preparing for the festivities; concerts and parades started the evening before, commencing the night with fireworks from the roof of Palazzo Vecchio. The Uffizzi and Palazzo Vecchio offered free admission from 7pm until 1am and major monuments all over Florence were lit up with red, white and green lights. There was no escaping the processions of drummers, dancers, flag bearers, or street performers since I live on the main drag between the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria, the equivalent to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Italian flags and pins were handed out to the crowds, and local artisans set up booths around the Baptistery showing off their talents. The piazzas were no longer filled with hoards of tourists, but Italians, real Italians, to show off their country. By the end of the night as Piazza della Signoria was pieno zeppo, the locals were just as impressed and amazed at the comparably small fireworks shooting off the top of Palazzo Vecchio as the tourists were.

This unification, the unifying identity of Italians has been a heavily discussed topic in my Italian government class this semester. Years after the unification, with one leader, national military, and international recognition, Italy still struggled with one major thing: a national identity. With so many different cultures and customs, including the language, cuisine, and even many southern Italians having no connection with northern Italians and vice versa, was keeping the country separated. The one thing bringing them together has been their patriotism to their country. The Italian flag brings Italians from all over together as one community. The national anthem, starts out as, “Fratelli, d’Italia, l’Italia, s’è desta…” meaning “Brothers of Italy, Italy has woken…” I see this as referring to the Italy that was always meant to be is finally coming together as one, united under their flag.

We always think of American’s being patriotic, but for Italians, it means more than just loving your country; it’s keeping it together.