Bella Ciao is the album that kick-started the Italian folk revival in the mid-1960s made by Il
Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano a group of researchers musicians and radical intellectuals. Based
on a contested music show that debuted in 1964 Bella Ciao also featured a double version of
the popular song of the same title an anti-Fascist anthem from World War II which was
destined to become one of the most sung political songs in the world and translated into more
than 40 languages. The book reconstructs the history and the reception of the Bella Ciao
project in 1960s' Italy and more broadly explores the origins and the distinctive development
of the Italian folk revival movement through the lens of this pivotal album.
