As a young man from Genoa, Goffredo Mameli was roused by Mazzini's ideas. After concluding his studies and beginning his "career" as a poet he also felt the tug of politics, taking part in all sorts of anti-Austrian activities. Feeling the need for an anthem which could finally unite all Italians around the tricolor flag, Mameli wrote its words and left the task of composing its melody to Michele Novaro, another Genoa-born artist who had residence right here, in a second-floor apartment on via Barbaroux. Some claim that Mameli personally came to Turin to share his poem with Novaro, others that he simply mailed it to him; whatever the case, what was then meant to be a "placeholder" anthem remains to this day the official "Song of Italians".