Balilla was the nickname of Giovan Battista Perasso,
a Genoese
boy who started the revolt of 1746 against the Habsburg forces that occupied the city in the War of the Austrian Succession
by throwing a stone on an Austrian official.
Legend[citation needed] asserts
that while dragging a piece of artillery through a muddy road in the
Portoria neighborhood of Genoa some Austrian soldiers forced onlookers
and passersby to dislodge it from the moat in which it had gotten stuck,
cursing and lashing at them: disgusted by the scene Perasso allegedly
grabbed a stone from the road and skilfully threw it at the Austrian
patrol, asking his fellow citizens a question in the Genoese dialect: "Che l'inse?" ("Am I to begin?" or
"Shall I start?") setting in motion an uproar which eventually caused
the Austrian garrison to be evicted from the city. The phrase became
proverbial in Italian as well.
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Θέλω να σκέφτομαι αυτά τα τρία παιδιά, το Μιχάλη, τον Αλέξανδρο, τον Balilla κι όλα τα άλλα παιδιά που κάποια έκφανση της σκληρότητας των μεγάλων τα έδιωξε από τη ζωή πρόωρα, να βρίσκονται κάπου μαζί, σ' έναν κόσμο χωρίς Κούγιες και Λυκουρέζους.
ΟΧΙ, ΠΑΙΔΙΑ...Μην βλέπετε εμάς τους μεγάλους σαν να 'μασταν γονείς σας.