“They have a song, and that’s it. We have too many and none. That song of theirs is terrible. It is a proper weapon against fascists that we, we must admit, do not have in our armory. It drives fascists crazy, they tell me, just by hearing it. If a newborn baby sang it, they would kill it with a cannon.”

This is how Italian partisan and writer Beppe Fenoglio wrote about the song “Fischia il vento” [“The Wind Blows”]. At first, it was a song - a very popular patriotic song “Katyusha” - that Italian soldiers learned while fighting in the Soviet Union. And then, toward the end of 1943, a member of the Italian resistance movement Felice Cascione decided to infuse the melody with new lyrics. He did not care particularly about the story the original version offered, story about a girl who sings her love to a “fighter at a far-away borderland”. Moreover, while the resistance fighters in Italy sang songs from decades past, Cascione believed they deserved at least one song of their own. This song indeed became theirs, serving not just as an entertaining tune but as a powerful tool. It unified them, inspired them, and at the same time - no less important - irked members of the fascist movement. Finally, this song became the anthem of the Garibaldi Brigades, the largest among the resistance groups in Italy.

Songs:
Katyusha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J__ZdvsZaE
Fischia il vento: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUkfADn5u-I

Sources:
Donatella Alfonso, “Il Che Guevara di Imperia che inventò ‘Fischia il vento’” [“Che Guevara of the Imperium Who Invented ‘Fischia il Vento’”], http://www.cantilotta.org/canti/cascione.pdf.

Christian Flammia and Andrea Ghirardo, “Intervista a due partigiani del comandante Felice Cascione, l’autore di ‘Fischia il vento’” [“Interview with Two Partisans of Commander Felice Cascione, the Author of ‘Fischia il vento’”], ANPI | Intervista a due partigiani del comandante Felice Cascione, l'autore di "Fischia il vento" (archive.org).

Beppe Fenoglio, Il partigiano Johnny [The Partisan Johnny] (Einaudi: Torino, 1968).