La Leggenda del Piave

La Leggenda del Piave

English: The Legend of Piave
A woman, representing Italy, celebrates the Italian victory over Austria-Hungary in the First World War with a tricolour over the newly conquered city of Trieste.
National anthem of Kingdom of Italy
Lyrics	E. A. Mario, 1918
Music	E. A. Mario, 1918
Adopted	September 1943
Relinquished	June 1944
Preceded by	"Marcia Reale" (1943)
Succeeded by	"Marcia Reale" (1944)
Audio sample
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"La Leggenda del Piave" (lit. 'The Legend of Piave'), also known as "La Canzone del Piave" (lit. 'The Song of Piave'), is an Italian patriotic song written by E. A. Mario after the Second Battle of the Piave River in June 1918. In September 1943 the future king of Italy Umberto II chose it as the new national anthem replacing the "Marcia Reale". It remained the official anthem of Italy until June 1944, when Rome was liberated and the government and the King returned to the capital. The "Marcia Reale" was in fact reintroduced as a national anthem and remained both after the appointment of Crown Prince Umberto of Savoy as Lieutenant General of the Realm and after his elevation to King. After the 1946 Italian institutional referendum, the newly established Italian Republic selected "Il Canto degli Italiani" in its stead. Today, the song is popular in Italy and played by a military band on National Unity and Armed Forces Day (November 4).