Monday, 24th

Annual international prayer meeting for world peace

This year’s edition of the international prayer meeting, titled ‘The Cry for Peace’ and organised by Rome’s Comunità di Sant’Egidio, will see a number of political and religious leaders come together to pray for peace and dialogue in a divided world. 

The opening ceremony, scheduled for Monday at 5pm, will be attended by Italian head of state Sergio Mattarella and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Tuesday, 25th

Vote of confidence in the new government

Italy’s new government, led by new prime minister Giorgia Meloni, is expected to ask for MPs’ vote of confidence as early as Tuesday.

The members of both houses of parliament will vote by roll call, with the new Consiglio dei Ministri (government cabinet) requiring the support of more than half of each house in order to fully take up office.

The government is expected to obtain the required majority without any problems.

While the vote in the Chamber of Deputies should be completed by the end of Tuesday, the Senate vote might take place the following day.

Friday, October 28th

100th anniversary of Mussolini’s March on Rome

Between October 27th and October 28th 1922, Mussolini’s Blackshirt paramilitaries (also known as squadristi) laid siege to Rome, forcing King Vittorio Emmanuele III to hand power over to the Fascist party. 

The coup was the start of Italy’s 20-year fascist period.

A number of conferences, demonstrations and exhibitions will be held across the country to keep the memory of the tragic October 1922 events alive. 

Saturday, 29th

Ukraine peace demo in Naples

A march for peace and an immediate ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine will take place in the central Piazza del Plebiscito, Naples on Saturday.

Sunday, 30th

Clocks go back

At 3am on Sunday, October 30th, daylight saving time (DST) will officially end and Italy will revert to winter time (‘ora solare’ in Italian), with clocks going back by one hour to 2am.

Experts including the president of the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine, Alessandro Miani, have asked the Italian government to forgo the rotation between daylight saving time and winter time for this year.

There have been campaigns in recent years for Italy and other European countries to keep daylight savings time throughout the year. 

The transition has been proved to have negative short- and long-term health effects on the public. And many have pointed out that keeping DST would allow Italy to save non-negligible amounts of energy in the midst of the European gas crisis.

However, the annual switch will go ahead as usual this year.