This song of the Resistance was composed early September 1943, during the Second World War. The Italian government, which had been an ally to Nazi Germany since 1940, decided at this period to sign an armistice with the English and the Americans.
The announcement of this event marked the beginning of an extremely chaotic period: most of the Italian troops who were no longer taking orders, dispersed, and this all the more naturally as the majority of the Italians did not identify with the Fascist movement. However, some units entered into resistance against the German army, which had troops on the peninsula and in the Mediterranean Basin . The Nazi repression was ruthless: Italy became henceforth considered as an occupied territory and thousands of resistance fighters and hostages were executed by firing squad. The Italian Resistance organized itself and played a capital role in the liberation of the country.
Belle Ciao, a very popular song, symbolizes the battle of Italian partisans against Fascism and the Nazi occupation, which led to the foundation of the Italian Republic in 1946.