The Italian national anthem, better known as the Fratelli d’Italia, was the subject of a heated debate this week. Two lesser known artists displayed their object d’art at the Bolzano Museum of Modern Art which was promptly confiscated. The toilet flushes to the anthem in question, raising such questions as ‘is the anthem a national symbol’ and ‘is it unpatriotic to play it in a context in which it could be ridiculed’. The prosecution point to a decree that was issued earlier this year by the former government of Silvio Berlusconi which defined the national anthem as an emblem and the property of the state and argued that flushing this particular toilet is an offence to the nation. We are awaiting the verdict with bated breath and not a little trepidation.