Italy marks 80 years of the Republic with military parade in Rome
Video. Italy celebrated the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Republic with ceremonies, military parades and flypasts in Rome, commemorating the 1946 vote that paved the way for democracy.
Updated: 02/06/2026 - 15:53 GMT+2
Italy celebrated the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Republic with ceremonies, military parades and flypasts in Rome, commemorating the 1946 vote that paved the way for democracy.
Italy marked the 80th anniversary of the Republic on Tuesday with a series of ceremonies and celebrations in Rome. President Sergio Mattarella laid a wreath at the Unknown Soldier’s Memorial before attending the traditional military parade through the capital.
Video showed firefighters unfurling a giant Italian flag over the Colosseum, while military units, emergency services and civil protection personnel marched through the Roman Forum. The celebrations also featured a performance of the Italian national anthem by tenor Andrea Bocelli and a flypast by the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team, which painted the sky in the colours of the national flag.
The anniversary commemorates the historic vote of 2 June 1946, when Italians chose to replace the monarchy with a republic and elected a Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the country’s constitution. The vote was also the first national election in which Italian women were able to participate.
