Florence’s April 25 Liberation Day Events 2025

A Liberation Day lunch and concert open to the public will take place in Piazza Poggi, near the tower of San Niccolò (pictured)

Mark your calendars! The 25th of April brings one of the most important holidays of the Italian calendar, as the nation comes together to celebrate the anniversary of its liberation from fascism on April 25, 1945. This year is particularly special, as it represents the 80th anniversary. To commemorate the occasion, the city of Florence will play host to a broad range of activities and ceremonies, as it celebrates its liberty and pays respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in securing it.

The day will begin at 10 am in Piazza dell’Unità Italiana, where there will be a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of all those who have fallen in battle. The piazza has a long history. It came to acquire its current name in 1882, to celebrate the unification of Italy in 1861. The obelisk, which still stands in the square and will be the focal point of the ceremony, was inaugurated around the same time, and was dedicated to those who had lost their lives in the wars of independence.

A procession will then make its way towards the Palazzo Vecchio, where there will be a commemorative ceremony at 11 am. Finally, at 5.30 pm, the Giacomo Rossini Philharmonic Orchestra will take the stage outside the Palazzo Vecchio and bring a musical element to the day’s activities: expect a repertoire of music from the patriotic and antifascist tradition, including the Italian national anthem (the ‘Inno di Mameli’) and ‘Bella Ciao.’

The public are invited to place flowers at the following venues as a tribute to members of the resistance and Florentine civilians who lost their lives in the conflict against the Nazis and the Fascists after the surrender of Italy on September 8, 1943.

  • Palazzo Vecchio – Plaque in Honor of Fallen Partisans (resistance fighters)
  • Piazza Torquato Tasso – Monument of the Fallen
  • Piazza Santo Spirito – Plaque in Honor of  the partisan “Potente”
  • Palagio di Parte Guelfa – Plaque Dedicated to Women in the Resistance
  • Piazza d’Azeglio – Monument to the Radio Cora Victims
  • Porta al Prato – Plaque to World War 2 Civilian Victims
  • Cascine – Memorial to the Fallen
  • Via Pandolfini (angolo Via del Crocifisso) – Plaque in Honor of Fallen Resistance Fighter Alessandro Sinigaglia
  • Memorial in Remembrance of Concentration Camp Victims (Fortezza da Basso– near Romito)

Alongside the city’s official programme of events, the National Association of Italian Partisans (constituted in Rome on June 6, 1944) will also organise a series of events and activities. From 12:30 pm, the annual antifascist lunch will take place on the Piazza Poggi. Reservation is mandatory and can be done via WhatsApp at the following number: 366 6492844. There will be a meat and vegetarian menu available, ending with a traditional favourite: ‘crostata’ (jam tart). The accompanying concert begins at 12 pm, and performers include Le Musiquorum, Rebelincor, Letizia Fuochi & Frank Cusumano, and Rumy Gyal.

As well as all this, the followings museums can be visited for free on April 25: the Bargello National Museum; the Medici Chapels; the Church and Museum of Orsanmichele; the Palazzo Davanzati Historic Renaissance Home Museum; and the Casa Martelli Museum.

Originally built in the 1200s, the massive and medieval spaces of the Bargello (via Ghibellina, open 8:15 am – 1:50 pm) host Renaissance sculpture masterworks by Donatello (St. George and the Dragon), and other artists such as Cellini, Verrocchio and Giambologna in addition to four sculptures by Michelangelo and displays of decorative arts down the ages, ranging from ceramics to textiles.

Palazzo Davanzati (via Porta Rossa, open 1:15 – 6:50 pm) was built in the mid 1400s and contains the original Renaissance furnishings and frescoes.  The Casa Martelli museum has come down intact from the 17th and 18th centuries and the art collection comprises pieces by Luca Giordano, Domenico Beccafumi and Piero di Cosimo.

The Medici Chapels (piazza Madonna degli Aldobrandi, open 8:15 am – 6 50 pm) are home to the New Sacristy, designed by Michelangelo.  The Renaissance genius also created the sculptures for the sarcophagi of the Medici dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano as well as the allegories of Dawn and Dusk, Night and Day.  Formerly the site of a monastery with a vegetable garden (orto), the Orsanmichele (via Calziauoli, open 8:30 am – 6:30 pm), the building was first repurposed as a grain warehouse and then in the 14th century, a church.  It was given to the city’s governing guilds, which commissioned statues of patron saints in niches on the facade to leading artists of the day.  Inside is Orcagna’s Gothic tabernacle, glowing with encrusted jewels, the setting for a medieval Virgin and Child of the Middle Ages by Bernardo Daddi. The church also houses a 1398 century fresco of St. Anne by Mariotto di Nardo; as one of the protectors of Florence, the Virgin Mary’s mother is portrayed with a representation of the medieval city in her hands. (Sultan Khokhar/additional reporting by Rosanna Cirigliano)