Who wrote the music to the current Italian National Anthem, known as 'Inno di Mameli'?.

'Il Canto degli Italiani' (English translation 'The Song of Italians') is a canto written by Goffredo Mameli, set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, and is the current national anthem of Italy. It is known more often as ‘Inno di Mameli’ (English: 'Mameli's Hymn') or 'Fratelli d'Italia' (English: 'Brothers of Italy').

Whilst the exact dates are disputed, the text of the 'Il Canto degli Italiani' was written by the Genoese Goffredo Mameli, then a young student and a fervent patriot, in a historical context characterized by that widespread patriotism that already heralded the revolutions of 1848 and the First Italian War of Independence (1848-1849).

After having discarded the idea of adapting it to existing music, Goffredo Mameli sent the text of the hymn to Genoese composer Michele Novaro, hoping that he could do justice to the words.

Novaro was born on 23 December 1818 in Genoa, where he studied composition and singing. He was a convinced liberal and offered his compositional talents to the unification cause without deriving any personal benefits. He died poor on 20 October 1885, after a life riddled with financial and health difficulties.

In the 1848, Mameli's hymn was very popular among the Italian people and it was commonly sung during demonstrations, protests and revolts as a symbol of the Italian Unification in most parts of Italy.