Italy Marks 81st Liberation Day — Mattarella and Meloni at Vittoriano Monument in Rome

Italy observed the 81st anniversary of Liberation Day (Festa della Liberazione) on April 25, 2026, commemorating the end of the Nazi-fascist occupation of Italy in 1945. President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni led the official ceremony at the Vittoriano Monument (Altare della Patria) in Rome, where a laurel wreath was laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, flanked by presidential honor guards. The date marks April 25, 1945, when the National Liberation Committee for Upper Italy (CLNAI) ordered a general uprising against Nazi-German occupation, days before German forces in Italy surrendered on May 2, 1945. President Mattarella subsequently traveled to Civitella, a Tuscan village where German SS forces massacred 244 civilians in 1944, to pay tribute to the victims. Controversy surrounded the anniversary after the organizers of a ceremony in Acca Larentia, Rome, spiked a planned antifascist speech — a dispute that highlighted the ongoing political tension in Italy over how to interpret the Resistance and fascist legacy. NATO's JFC Naples issued a statement highlighting shared Allied values commemorated on the anniversary.