 The Italian bersagliere is flirting with Valona (Vlorë in Albania) and makes Trieste jealous. A cartoon from the First World War. |  1915. Seductive Trieste is tempting the bersagliere, whose hands are tied by Italy's neutrality. But not for long... |
To understand a bit about the world of Goldenbird, one needs to know a little bit (or a lot?) about Italy's adventures around the Adriatic Sea in the 1910's and 1920's. Italy was originally neutral, due to its agreements with Austria-Hungary and Germany, but joined the war on the side of France and Britain in 1915 in the hope of gaining some so-called irredenta - external territories inhabited by Italian-speakers and claimed by the nation. In the world of Goldenbird, Ginestra is one such town, situated somewhere between Trieste and the Istrian peninsula, a multi-ethnic relic of the former Empire with a mixed population of Italian- and Slavic-speakers (perhaps also some unevacuated Austrians and Hungarians, as well as Romanian workers, thrown in for good measure).
Sung by the immortal Caruso, this is the liberation song of the former Austro-Hungarian Free Imperial City of Trieste, annexed by Italy in 1920.
La Campana di San Giusto
Per le spiaggie, per le rive di Trieste
suona e chiama di San Giusto la Campana:
l'ora suona, l'ora suona non lontana
che più schiava non sarà.
Le ragazze di Trieste
cantan tutte con ardore:
O Italia, o Italia del mio cuore,
tu ci vieni a liberar!
Avrà baci, fiori e rose la marina,
la campana perderà la nota mesta;
su San Giusto sventolar vedremo a festa
il vessillo tricolor.
Le ragazze di Trieste...
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