‘Bella ciao’: A portable monument for transnational activism

Abstract

‘Bella ciao’ is one of the best-known partisan songs of the Italian anti-fascist Resistance (1943–5) and is part of the repertoire of protest of many movements across the globe. In 2018, the song was revived by its use in the popular TV series La casa de papel. This article examines how ‘Bella ciao’ is adopted by activists worldwide. It does so by analyzing the song through the concept of ‘portability’: the capacity of a cultural artifact to be a model that can be adapted to different contexts. After an examination of ‘Bella ciao’'s historical uses, the article focuses on the song's feminist versions for supporting different causes and in particular abortion rights. The reuses of the song speak of memory in terms of not only a product – what we remember – but also a process: the creative use of the cultural legacy of past movements for the shaping of new stories.