Florence’s ‘Republic Day’ 2025 & Free Museums

A back view of Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia

Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day), celebrated every year on June 2, is a legal holiday in Italy, and businesses and many shops will be closed.  Free admission will be granted all day at the Academy Gallery (8:15 am – 6:50 pm); the Uffizi Gallery (8:15 am – 6:30 pm); the Bargello National Museum of Renaissance Sculpture (8:15 am – 6:50 pm); the Medici Chapels (8:15 am – 6:50 pm) and the Orsanmichele church and museum (8:30 am – 6:30 pm).  No entrance will be charged as well to visit the luminous Fra Angelico frescoes at the San Marco Museum (piazza San Marco) from 8:30 am to 1:50 pm.  The no-cost access is granted for Italy’s Republic Day which commemorates the June 2, 1946 referendum when the Italian people voted to abolish the monarchy, opting instead to create a national government as a republic with representatives voted by citizens.

Below is the official program to mark the holiday.

The Italian and the EU flags will be raised outside Palazzo Vecchio (Florence city hall), and a laurel wreath will be laid on the plaque honoring Piero Calamandrei (1889 – 1956) located on the facade of the building (8 am). Calamandrei was a lawyer who pioneered reform of the Italian legal system and was also one of the founders of the Partito d’Azione anti-fascist party which helped train resistance fighters, or partigiani, in the civil war after the surrender of Italy to the Allies (September 8, 1943) and the consequent occupation by German forces and their Fascist allies.

At 8:45 a laurel wreath will be placed on the plaque in tribute to the Venerable Giulio Facibeni in via delle Panche 28.  An anti-fascist priest, Facibeni worked actively in the resistance movement, also saving the lives of many Jews and refugees in addition to establishing the Madonna del Grappa to aid the war orphans. Another wreath will be laid on a plaque to Giuseppe Garibaldi in Lungarno Vespucci (9 am) on the anniversary of his death (June 2, 1992) in recognition to his successful campaign to unify Italy, which ended in 1871.

Solemn ceremonies in honor of the Festa della Repubblica will take place in Piazza Santissima Annunziata at 9:30 am and again at 4:30 pm.

The final event of the day will be a free concert performed by the Giuseppe Verdi Philharmonic Band in Piazza Signoria at 9 pm.