Italians sing together as radio stations unite to broadcast the national anthem

Amid a pandemic that has hit Italy harder than any other country in the world, Italians have joined together in a show of national solidarity, tuning in to their radios to sing the national anthem in unison.

At 11 am local time Friday, major national and regional radio stations broadcast the country’s national anthem, allowing residents in isolation to listen and sing together from behind closed doors.

Broadcasters including RAI Radio, Radio 105, Radio Capital, Radio Deejay, Radio Freccia and Radio Kiss Kiss took were among those taking part, as the death toll in Italy overtook China’s on Thursday to reach 3,405.

Many Italians threw open their windows and balcony doors to sing loudly with their neighbors.

Residents shared videos of the moment on social media, with the hashtag #radioperlitalia.

One video showed medical staff singing at a children’s hospital, and another showed a person listening in their car.

Others showed radios playing from balconies flying the Italian flag.

Last week, residents of Siena, a city in Tuscany, leaned out of their windows and broke into spontaneous song, in a moment captured in a video posted on Twitter. The tweet has been liked more than 138,000 times.

And in a separate video shared on Facebook, neighbors in apartment blocks in Naples could be seen on their balconies, singing and chanting upbeat messages such as “go Italy, go Naples!” and “there is no virus that can beat us.”