President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday stressed the importance of Liberation Day, which marks Italy's liberation from Fascism and the Nazi occupation at the end of the World War II, ahead of the national holiday on Saturday.
"On April 25, I will travel to San Severino Marche, a city awarded the Gold Medal for Civil Merit, which made a significant contribution to the struggle for Liberation, paying a high price in terms of suffering and sacrifice," Mattarella said during a meeting at the Quirinal Palace with representatives of veterans' and military associations in view of the 81st anniversary of Liberation.
"Like many places in our country, it represents a symbolic site of the Resistance, called upon this year—the 80th anniversary of the choice for the Republic made by Italian men and women (in the 1946 referendum) —to renew its message, to make it a moment of collective reflection and national cohesion.
"The struggle for Liberation is one of the defining chapters of the Republic's history.
"It marks the moral and civil redemption of a people who, in the Resistance, demonstrated the strength and capacity to uphold the values of freedom, justice, peace, and democracy.
