Bella Ciao began as an Italian folk song associated with the anti-fascist partisans of the Second World War, long before it became a global pop culture shorthand. Its simple, singable chorus kept it alive at protests and gatherings for decades, and the Netflix series Money Heist brought it to a new international audience in the late 2010s, where characters sang it as an anthem of resistance. Since then, short clips of the chorus have circulated widely in memes, edits and social videos.