"Up, communists of the capital, the day of the rescue has finally come, when we will raise the red flag above the Quirinale". It is the first verse of a song by the old PCI of Rome that today seems like a prophecy, given the election of Giorgio Napolitano al Colle, the first former PCI in republican history. Older communist militants still remember it for having sung it in a thousand marches since post-war times. But also the youngest for having heard it in many of the collections of Italian political songs, published recently.
An ancient song that over the years has undergone various transformations. In fact, the song was born in Civitavecchia, composed of some anarchist nuclei. Later it was adopted by the Italian Communist Party. But once it was adopted by the PCI, it is said, it underwent various changes in the text. The second verse initially read: ''This rebellious city and never tamed by ruins and bombings; The Red Guard rings the gathering: everyone present".
The Communist Party, it is said, changed the last verse by replacing the "Red Guard" with the name of the "Migliore", Palmiro Togliatti. But this is not the only song that refers to the ''conquest'' of the Quirinale as the ultimate goal of a political force. Stelvio Garasi, historical memory of the section Ds Centro Storico, the same as Napolitano, recalls that the Roman republicans, in the early '900, concluded their anthem, ''Red Flag'', with the hope in Roman of ''annà a Montecavallo'', the popular name with which at the time the Quirinale was indicated, of which traces have remained in the name of a street adjacent to the Hill, Via Montecavallo.
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