The notes of “Bella Ciao” resound again on April 25th in Como, after last year’s parenthesis when the municipal administration asked to remove the piece from the setlist with which the Musical Corps of San Bartolomeo in the vineyards of Tavernola proposed to accompany the ceremony.
This year Palazzo Cernezzi has instead approved without any complaints the new setlist which will be performed in Piazza Cavour by the Albatese Musical Corps and which, in fact, also contains “Bella Ciao”. The confirmation comes directly from the president of the Albatese musical body Giovanni Caspani: «AWe obtained authorization without any problems. We will play the Italian anthem, a miscellany of partisan songs and also the inevitable “Bella Ciao”.
Mayor Alessandro Rapinese confirmed the lineup yesterday and with a half smile said: “I don’t remember any controversy.” Yet on April 25, 2023, the former councilor Marcello Iantorno had criticized the Municipality’s choice to exclude “Bella Ciao” even though in the end the band had played it anyway in response to many requests from the public.
«I certainly won’t throw it into politics – explains Caspani –, my father Ottorino has already done enough with politics, he was also in the Municipality in the role of councilor for almost 35 years. We will play as the band’s task for April 25th, the day of liberation.” After mass at 9.30am at the monumental church, this year’s celebrations will be held at 11am in Piazza Cavour given the work on the lakeside gardens.
The provincial ACLI of Como also intervened on April 25th, «once again reiterating the values of the Italian Constitution, in the renewed commitment to their promotion, custody and defense. In remembering and sharing the key points of our Republic, the values of peace, work, freedom, democracy, equality, dignity and participation are linked to the principles of resistance and anti-fascism, which between 1943 and 1945 encouraged thousands of women and men who made it possible to build a free country.”
