25 APRIL 1945: The Start of a New Beginning for Italy

Liberation Day - La Festa della Liberazione

25 April - Streets in Rome will be closed for parades to celebrate the 68th anniversary of liberation from the Nazis and the end of the Fascist regime.

Women in the Italian Resistance

The date marks the liberation of Milan and Turin, where the partigiani, the Italian resistance movement, aided by a popular insurrection, forced the retreat of the German soldiers.

Just two days later, Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was captured while attempting to cross the border into Switzerland and executed along with his lover Clara Petacci.

Actress Anna Magnani in "Rome, Open City", 1945

Rome was liberated in June of that year, and in September the film "Rome, Open City" was released in Italian theatres. Filmed on meagre war-time resources, director Roberto Rossellini dramatized the plight of the capital under Nazi occupation.

The Voice of the Italian Resistance

The song "Bella Ciao", derived from a folk song from the 1800s, became a choral emblem of the Italian resistance during the social protests of the 1960s; it has been translated into over thirty languages and sung all over the world as a protest song. 

At this time of year, bright red poppies, a common weed in Italy, begin to sprout up around the ruins and the train tracks. 

A symbol of remembrance in many of the Commonwealth Nations, poppies have been associated with war since they were noted growing on the graves of soldiers and figure in anti-war songs around the world.