by Andira Vitale

The resolute red poppies of liberated Italy. In Italy, the poppy is revered as the emblem of the Resistance and of April 25th. It is a tenacious flower, able to thrive even in unwelcome conditions, making it a valid symbol of Freedom. It grows autonomously, defying all odds.

On April 25th, Italy’s liberation from the Nazi-fascist regime is celebrated throughout Italy, and the courage, strength and patriotism of those who fought for the peace and Freedom of our country, fragmented by the control of the dictatorship, are paid homage. A flower stands proud amidst the clashes and battles among the fields. On the day on which the Liberation of Italy from Hitler’s Germany and from what remains of the Mussolini era is celebrated, next to the faces of our partisans and among the images of our Resistance, they appear among the wheat fields: the poppy, the symbol of Freedom. This flower is a tribute to life and victory, a symbol of the memory of the Italian Resistance, but also of rebirth, of life and of the Freedom that triumphed over Italy freed from dictatorship and Nazi-fascism.

These flowers remember the deeds performed in the name of Freedom, blooming spontaneously among the fields, along the streams or the tracks, in often hostile environments, in which, with their delicacy and their intense colour, they dominate the scene, accompanying the Action Squads’ patriotic in the countryside. We can observe poppies in the most disparate landscapes, ranging from endless fields to roadsides, passing through railways. Their liveliness, therefore, gave new life to hostile environments, accompanying the actions of the partisans in various contexts. The red colour of the petals then transforms them into a metaphor to indicate the bloodshed and the ideals pursued.

They are the symbols of the Resistance.

They are the symbols of the Resistance, capable of flourishing precisely on the battlefields and of recalling the red blood with their veins, but also the ideals in which the many partisans who died in the clashes believed.

In the language of flowers, red poppies symbolise simplicity and consolation and commemorate the dead of war, not only in Italy. The poppy is a flower associated with war since ancient times. It grows even in the most prohibitive terrain and, more specifically, even in spaces where nothing remains but the destruction of clashes. According to legend, the Mongol commander Genghis Khān brought poppy seeds to scatter on the battlefield to honour the fallen. In more recent times, John McCrae has thought of recalling the tenacity of these flowers. He is a poet, doctor, and Canadian soldier; in Flanders Fields, he evokes the image of red flowers blooming in places devastated by the destruction of the Great War. Today, these are the symbols of Remembrance Day, the day of remembrance for the victims of the First World War in England and throughout the Commonwealth.

“You sleep buried in a cornfield

It’s not the rose, it’s not the tulip

Who keeps watch over you from the shadow of the ditches

But they are a thousand red poppies.”

The great Fabrizio De André wrote

Poppies and the language of flowers

The poppy is now associated, as a symbol of the Resistance, with various feelings and ideals. The language of flowers embodies dormant pride and consolation while remaining inextricably linked to simplicity. In short, the poppy becomes synonymous with the desire for redemption and hope for the future. Linking it to the desire for peace is, therefore, almost inevitable. The “Thousand Red Poppies” that “watch over” the protagonist of Piero’s War by Fabrizio De André do nothing but remind us of this. The ability of these flowers to grow spontaneously almost everywhere has not failed to create inconveniences. In specific contexts, they are, in fact, even considered pests.

Understanding why the poppy became a symbol of the Resistance reminds us how much history and tradition influence the present. Man increasingly looks at nature from a pedestal, almost considering it an adversary. Instead, this accompanies humanity in every stage and delicately insinuates itself into our culture.