Today in Italy we celebrate the “Festa della Liberazione”, the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Italy from fascism and Nazi German occupation. A national holiday in Italy, this day will be marked by both commemoration and celebration – from solemn ceremonies of remembrance to parades, speeches and open air concerts in Italian piazzas. The biggest ceremony is held in Milan, the site some of the fiercest fighting, and of the grotesque public display of Mussolini’s body in the days that followed. However, despite the numerous events planned to mark the occasion at national and local level, the ‘festa della liberazione’ has never been a straightforward day of celebration for all Italians.
The date marks the end of almost two years of ferocious civil war and foreign occupation in Italy, as the collapse of fascism turned the country into a battleground between the Allies, advancing upwards from Sicily, and the Nazi Germans who occupied Italy in September 1943 to prop up Mussolini’s dying regime. While Rome was liberated by the Allies in June 1944, the tug of war continued in northern and central Italy for almost another year. Numerous groups of resistance fighters, la Resistenza, dominated by the Italian communists, were formed in the occupied areas, and the German and fascist position was gradually weakened by guerrilla warfare, in preparation for the long awaited Allied surge. Finally, 25 April 1945 was decided on as the Italian ‘D-Day’. A mass popular uprising was to take place across the northern Italy, to prepare the ground for the Allies. Mass strikes paralysed the industrial cities of Milan and Turin, destroying what little authority the fascists still retained, and days of street fighting forced the Germans into retreat. Many towns and cities were already out of German and fascist hands by the time the Allies arrived to ‘liberate’ them.
Especially in Northern Italy we are very proud of our Resistance fighters who fought against the Italian fascists and the German nazists all through WWII, although many of our towns and villages paid with fire and blood the price of hiding and supporting the “partigiani”. Today is a day of remembrance in Italy, let’s pray that the past will never come to haunt us again.
