ROME, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Italy has introduced a slight change to its national anthem, removing an emphatic "Si!" (Yes!) that followed a call to arms for the country, government sources said on Tuesday.
A source close to the matter said the Defence Staff issued official instructions about the tweak in recent weeks, in compliance with a presidential decree published on the official gazette in May that referred to the anthem's original version.
Before the latest change, the "Brothers of Italy" anthem concluded with: "We are ready to die, We are ready to die, Italy has called! Yes!"
News of the removal of the final word, which was not publicised by the government, was first reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano daily on Tuesday, and confirmed by sources in the defence ministry and the office of President Sergio Mattarella.
A presidential office source said the modification was not for any political reason but for the sake of purity, removing an addition to the original lyrics.
"Brothers of Italy", which is also the name of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party, was penned by poet Goffredo Mameli in 1847, before Italy was unified.
While Mameli's lyrics did not include "Si", the word figures in the original musical score for the anthem, composed in the same year by Michele Novaro.
Reproductions of the original lyrics and score are posted on the government's website.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Angelo Amante, editing by Philippa Fletcher)
