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ITALIAN TRADITIONS

What to expect in Italy on Republic Day 2024

From special events to free museum openings, here’s what you can expect in Italy on Sunday, June 2nd.

Published: 31 May 2024 16:20 CEST
Italian Air Force unit Frecce Tricolori (Tricolour Arrows) leave trails of green, white and red smoke over Piazza Venezia in Rome
Italian Air Force unit Frecce Tricolori (Tricolour Arrows) leaves trails of green, white and red smoke over Piazza Venezia in Rome on Republic Day 2023. Photo by LAURENT EMMANUEL / AFP

Sunday, June 2nd will be Italy’s Republic Day – a national public holiday commemorating the birth of the Italian Republic as we have it today.

Italy’s Festa della Repubblica marks the exact date in 1946 when Italians voted in a referendum to abolish the then 85-year-old monarchy, which had fallen out of favour due to its close alignment with Mussolini’s Fascist regime, and establish a democratic republic.

Unfortunately, this year’s Republic Day falls on a Sunday, meaning it won’t give people in the country an extra day off (national holidays in Italy are taken on the day they fall on that year rather than being moved to the nearest available weekday).

READ ALSO: How to make the most of Italy’s public holidays in 2024

That said, there’s still plenty of things you can look forward to if you’re in Italy on Sunday.

A military parade and trails of ‘tricolour’ smoke in Rome

As is traditional, the bulk of official Republic Day celebrations will take place in the capital. 

At around 9am on Sunday, President Sergio Mattarella will pay homage to fallen Italian soldiers by laying a laurel wreath before the war memorial at the Altare della Patria monument, in the central Piazza Venezia square.

Members of Italy's Carabinieri force parade on horses in central Rome on Republic Day

Members of Italy’s Carabinieri force parade on horses in central Rome on Republic Day in 2015. Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP

This will be followed by the traditional Republic Day military parade, with hundreds of members of Italy’s armed forces marching down the iconic Via dei Fori Imperiali. 

Unfortunately, this year’s parade is already sold out after all available tickets were snapped up in the space of a few hours last Wednesday.

If you didn’t manage to get your ticket or live elsewhere in the country, you can still watch the event for free on Rai1 (channel one on Italian TV sets) or on state broadcaster Rai’s online streaming platform RaiPlay.

Celebrations in the capital will end with a spectacular display from Italy’s Frecce Tricolori, with ten Air Force jets set to fly over the city, leaving trails of green, white and red smoke (the colours of Italy’s tricolore flag) in the sky.

Celebrations in other cities

Besides Rome, other major cities around the country will hold Republic Day celebrations.

Just to name a few, Milan will hold a flag-hoisting ceremony in the central Piazza del Duomo square on Sunday morning. This will be followed by a number of cultural events in the afternoon, including free concerts in the courtyard of Palazzo Marino.

A military parade and a flag-hoisting ceremony will take place in Venice’s Piazza San Marco starting from 8.45am on Sunday.

In Florence, a flag-raising event will be followed by an award ceremony for members of Italy’s armed forces in Piazza della Signoria.  

Free museum openings 

For the second year in a row, people around the country will be able to visit state-run museums and archaeological sites for free on Republic Day (which incidentally overlaps with Italy’s ‘free museum Sundays’ scheme this year).

This will apply to hundreds of sites, including world-famous attractions like the Colosseum, Pompeii, Florence’s Galleria dell’Accademia, and the Reggia di Caserta. 

A tourist takes a picture of Rome's Colosseum

A tourist takes a picture of Rome’s Colosseum. Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP

A full list of the museums, palaces and parks you can visit free of charge on Sunday is available on the Italian culture ministry’s website.

Please note that, though admission will be free, some venues may still require advance booking, so it’s always wise to find the attraction’s website beforehand and check the rules before you go.

As part of this year’s Republic Day celebrations, people in Rome will also be able to visit Palazzo Madama – the seat of the Italian senate – from 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

Further info can be found here.

Public transport and changes to local traffic

Most public transport operators around the country will operate on a normal weekend timetable (or orario festivo) on Sunday, with the quality and frequency of services during the day likely to vary significantly between rural and urban areas, as well as between cities.

Areas that are usually served by just the occasional bus may see very limited services, whereas parts of the country that already have robust public transport networks will keep them fairly active. 

There are no transport strikes planned for Sunday.

It’s worth noting that traffic in major cities around the country may undergo changes on Sunday to allow for the safe unfolding of Republic Day celebrations. 

These changes can usually be found on the relevant town hall’s website or social channels. 

For instance, this is Rome’s local authorities’ plan for Sunday. 

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TOURISM

Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Inflation may now be falling but the price of a summer holiday in Italy has risen again - by up to 20 percent compared to last year.

Published: 24 June 2024 10:53 CEST
Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Italian consumer rights groups said last year that the summer of 2023 would be remembered as “the most expensive ever” for travel. But 2024 has already smashed that record, according to the latest price surveys.

The rising cost of air fares, ferry tickets, hotels, restaurants and beach clubs add up to mean a holiday in Italy will be 15-20 percent more expensive this summer compared to last year, according to a survey conducted by the Assoutenti consumer research centre in June.

While price rises in recent years have been attributed to Covid and rising inflation, which is no longer thought to be a factor, this year Assoutenti said high demand was pushing up prices amid the post-pandemic tourism boom.

Prices in Italy were “out of control as a consequence of the resumption of tourism, after the stop imposed by Covid, and the record number of foreign visitors recorded in the last year,” the survey’s authors wrote, calling on the government to take measures to contain price increases.

READ ALSO: ltaly set for summer tourism boom as bookings increase again

They warned that more Italian families were likely to “give up the summer holidays this year, not being able to face an expense that increases from year to year,” and that those who do travel may book shorter trips to keep costs down.

Some 6.5 million Italians say they won’t be going on holiday this summer at all, with half citing economic difficulties, according to a separate survey commissioned by price comparison website Facile.it.

Meanwhile, there had been a nine percent increase this year in applications for personal loans for travel purposes, the survey found.

Flight prices

One of the biggest factors was the cost of air fares, as both domestic and international flights to and from Italy were found to be more expensive again this year.

While the cost of flights between European countries had fallen slightly following inflation-driven price hikes in 2023, Italy was bucking the trend.

Italy’s flight costs had risen instead, according to recent analysis in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, with the average price of a summer flight between Italy and the rest of Europe up by seven percent and domestic flights by 21 percent.

READ ALSO: Why are flight prices higher in Italy than the rest of Europe this summer?

Industry sources suggest the price increase is again down to unprecedented demand, while consumer groups say the main culprit is a lack of competition on the Italian market.

Transport costs

There were price hikes too for those using other modes of transport, with the rising cost of fuel and motorway tolls in Italy named as another contributing factor in the Assoutenti survey.

Ferry tickets were also more expensive, it found, with the average increase this August at +6.3 percent compared to 2023.

Hotels and B&Bs

For a family of four, the Assoutenti survey found the most expensive place to stay in Italy this summer was Porto Cervo, Sardinia, where the average price of a week’s three-star accommodation in August came to 3,500 euros.

The cheapest options were found to be Bibione, outside Venice (872 euros) and Rapallo in Liguria (909).

READ ALSO: Tourist tax: How much is it increasing in Italy’s cities this year?

The cost of accommodation at coastal destinations had risen by 23 percent on average overall, a separate survey by consumer group Altroconsumo found.

Hotels in cities were found to be a less expensive option, with most Italian families heading for the beach or mountains to escape the heat.

Restaurants

Adding to the overall cost, prices also continued to rise this year at restaurants in holiday resorts and at beach clubs: Assoutenti recorded an average increase for the catering sector of +3.5 percent on 2023.

Beaches

Renting sunbeds and umbrellas at Italy’s beach clubs is seen as a necessity by many Italian families – and often by international visitors too, given the lack of free options in many areas.

This too was becoming more expensive in 2024, with the average daily rate for a slot at one of Italy’s private beach clubs up by more than five percent on last year. Prices had also risen by as much as 11 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Beachgoers can now expect to pay around €30-35 for two sun loungers and a beach umbrella for the day on average, though prices can rise as high as €90 in Salento and €120 in parts of Sardinia.

Both private and free-access beaches in Italy also increasingly require advance booking due to higher demand.

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