Liberation Day 2020 Events & Openings

The late Silvano Sarti, a famous Resistance fight who helped to liberate Florence in conjunction with the Allies (photo Repubblica Firenze)

This Saturday, April 25, Italians observe the 75th anniversary of liberation from Nazi-fascism.  Liberation Day, usually celebrated throughout the country in piazzas and pavilions, will be honored, Coronavirus nonetheless.  The limitations due to the health emergency have not prevented Italians from remembering one of the events that deeply marked recent history.  

Here is the official April 25 events program.

9:30 am: Florentine mayor Dario Nardella will place a wreath on the monument to the war casualties in Piazza dell’Unità. 

10:30 am:  Mayor Nardella will arrive back to the steps in front of Palazzo Vecchio.  The principal trumpet of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, Andrea Dell’Ira, will play “Bella Ciao” together with Nardella (the mayor studied violin at Florence’s Cherubini Conservatory), standing next to the Gonfalone, a flag displaying a red iris/lily, the symbol of Florence. The tune, an old Italian folksong, was used as an anthem for the anti-fascist resistance and worldwide as a hymn of freedom.  Both events can be viewed on the 2 pm and the 7:30 pm editions of the regional news (Telegiornale regionale, Channel 3).

12 noon:  the Maggio Musicale Chorus will sing “Bella Ciao” in front of Palazzo Vecchio, and the public throughout Florence is invited to join in unison from their terraces and balconies.  The moment will be streamed on social media of the city of Florence (Comune di Firenze) and the Teatro del Maggio.

4 pm: the celebrations continue in the Cortile della Dogana of Palazzo Vecchio, where the president of the city council will place a wreath on the tombstone of the fallen.  Simultaneously, neighborhood presidents will lay wreaths in five Florentine spots symbolic of the Resistance.

Also, from 10 am to 12:30 pm Controradio broadcasts a program with scholars, students, actors, journalists and administrators presenting music, readings and reflections on the history and events of April 25.   At 10 am Florence’s Councilor of Culture Tommaso Sacchi will interview his 98-year old grandfather Edoardo who fought in the resistance movement from the time he was a young boy.  As these fragile memories risk disappearing with their protagonists and messages from those who lived through the times, words from those who lived through them can help later generations hold on to the freedoms that are part of Italian history.

The National Association of Partisans of Italy offers a program featuring the hashtag #iorestolibero (I remain free) beginning at 2:30 pm and asks all listeners to join in singing “Bella Ciao” at 3 pm.  Viewers can connect with various means listed on the organization’s website:  www.25aprile2020.it, including the option for Tuscan residents to step out on their terraces or front yard and sing “Bella Ciao.”  

In addition, the Tuscan Historical Institute of the Resistance makes available its digital resources to keep alive the knowledge of the Resistance and Liberation.  A cycle of 10 video documentaries is available on the ISRT YouTube channel (History and Memory of the Twentieth Century).  To view in Italian, search for l’Istituto Storico Toscano della Resistenza on YouTube (every Tuesday until June 2). 

In Tuscany, through Sunday, April 26, the Officine della Cultura and Teatro di Anghiari present a streamed theatrical performance from the book “My Seven Children” by Alcide Cervi, the father of the seven Cervi brothers.  The siblings, raised in a strong anti-fascist, Catholic family, printed political pamphlets, encouraged resistance to the Republic of Salò, a Nazi Germany puppet regime in northern Italy, and promoted education and agricultural improvements among the local peasants.  (rita kungel)