Italy celebrates Liberation Day on April 25th, known in Italian as Il Giorno della Liberazione, or La Festa della Resistenza (Celebration of the Resistance).

The date has been a public holiday in Italy since 1946 and it marks the end of the Italian Civil War and the end of the Nazi occupation. 2024 marks the 78th anniversary of Liberation Day.

So how exactly is it marked in Italy and what will most people be doing on the day?

A day off work

April 25th is officially a public holiday, so schools are closed and most employees will have the day off work.

Many shops and services including restaurants, post offices and banks are usually closed on this date.

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Supermarkets may be open in the mornings only, or not at all, and public transport is likely to be running on a reduced schedule.

Political rallies

As well as being a day off work, the date is seen as an important one by many Italians and the meaning is not forgotten.

Italians tend to spend the day making their political views clear. There are speeches, marches and protests around the country – at many of these, you’ll hear the song ‘Bella Ciao’, the anthem of the Italian resistance movement.

There are usually numerous official ceremonies across the country, including visits to the tombs of partisan soldiers. The biggest event is a political tribute at Rome’s Altare della Patria, the national monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy.

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President Sergio Mattarella usually makes an annual visit to the Ardeatine Caves mausoleum, where 335 Romans were killed by Nazis in 1944.

Foreigners learning about Italian politics are often surprised by the relatively large number of people, including young people, who strongly identify with either communist or fascist politics in Italy.

So if you’re not doing anything more than spending the afternoon eating lunch with your Italian family (the most popular way to mark any public holiday) there’s a good chance you’ll have to listen to political discourse at the table – and you may want to brush up on your Italian historical knowledge if you’d like to join in.

Museum visits

If you’d rather get out and about, it’s also a good day to visit a museum, and not just because pretty much everything else is closed.

Since last year, April 25th has been added – along with June 2nd and November 4th – to the list of dates on which entry is free to all of Italy’s state-run museums, archaeological parks and other cultural sites (under the nationwide Domenica al Museo or ‘Free museum Sundays’ scheme.)

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Italy’s culture ministry has confirmed the same dates for 2024, meaning you could spend the holiday visiting the Colosseum, the Uffizi art gallery, Pompeii, or another of the country’s world-famous sights completely free of charge.