I don’t think I ever had before tonight, when they played it for some Italian athletes (I don’t remember the event they won.) Listen to it here — it sounds like a chorus from a Rossini opera. Apparently, it was composed by a contemporary of Rossini in 1847. The fifth verse seems a little outdated; I confess that I don’t know a single historical reference in the fourth verse (that is, unless “the heart
and hand of Ferruccio” refers to Ferruccio Lamborghini, the car guy.)