April 25 (Liberation Day) represents the Easter of Italy, since it marks the resurrection of the state from death and just like in the Christian Easter, where Christ dies and rises to "cancel" the sins of humanity, so with April 25 Italy is resurrected, and the his sacrifice (during the civil war) absolved the Italians of their sins. Just as Easter is the most important holiday in Christianity, in the same way and for the same reasons, the anniversary of the liberation is the most important holiday in the Italian republic.
April 25 is Liberation Day , and every year the web is infested with posts, articles and comments from users asking "but set free from whom" ? and others who declare that they do not celebrate or have no reason to celebrate the liberation because there was no liberation, indeed, Italy "before" it was free and then it was "occupied" by the Americans.
Then perhaps it is appropriate to put our ideas in order and try to better frame what the anniversary of the liberation is and why we celebrate and celebrate this anniversary, but above all, because this anniversary represents the first, as well as one of the most important (if not the most important) , secular holidays in the history of republican Italy. Because one thing is certain, if someone does not know or understand the meaning of this date, evidently not very familiar with Italian history, especially the recent one.
Let's start by saying that April 25 n on is celebrated, but the liberation of Italy is celebrated , from two plagues that had plagued the country in recent years, German military occupation and fascism .
The German occupation
Following the armistice of September 1943 , with which the kingdom of Italy broke its alliance with Germany, agreeing in a certain sense a separate peace with the allied forces, de facto Italy officially left the axis to surrender to the United Nations (the name by which the US, UK and USSR coalition was known at the time, today remembered as "allies") , and get out of the conflict, however, Italy's unconditional surrender to "allies" it did not lead to the much hoped-for end of the war, but changed its face.
Italy, in September 43, with the surrender to the United Nations proclaimed itself "not belligerent" , however, the non-belligerence of Italy was not respected by the remaining forces of the axis which, instead of leaving the beautiful country, in which they had been stationed during the conflict to support the Italian forces, decided to stay there and make the Italian surrender vain, aimed at ending the conflict on the peninsula.
Between September 1943 and April 1945 Italy, now occupied by the Axis forces, and the Italians are forced to continue fighting, in a defensive key, in an attempt to remove former allies from the peninsula, and restore the status of national unity. Unity that ceased starting from the same September 1943, more precisely from 23 September, when the Italian Social Republic was established in part of the country, also known as the Republic of Salò since the city of Salò, on Lake Como, became the provisional capital of the new "state" endowed with an autonomous government, alien to the authority of the king, de facto a self-proclaimed and illegitimate government, of a new state entity within the borders of Italy.
The birth of CSR
The birth of CSR inaugurates a war of secession between the Republic (which had only the name of republican) governed by Benito Mussolini, and the Kingdom of Italy, in which Pietro Badoglio exercised the function of provisional head of state, a position that was recognized by all the political and institutional bodies of the kingdom of Italy, including the same King Vittorio Emanuele III , who, although he held a role strongly weakened by the fascist dictatorship, was still the King of a kingdom, precisely the Kingdom of Italy, whose recognized and legitimate form of government was a parliamentary monarchy, and consequently it was the King's task to indicate the head of government / prime minister, obviously depending on the outcome of the political elections, with which the Italian citizens with the right to vote, had elected the parliament and from a certain moment on, the chamber of fasces.
Vittorio Emanuele III entrusting the government to Marshal of Italy Pietro Badoglio , on the proposal of the Chamber of Fasci, had acted in full legitimacy, but Mussolini's decision to ignore the authority of the King and of the " parliament / chamber of fasces was less legitimate ”And to proclaim himself head of government and state.
Speech on legitimacy aside, as I said, the birth of CSR and the occupation of Italy by the forces of the axis (allies of CSR and Mussolini) , marks the beginning of a civil war with the features of a war of secession which, for a short period, interrupted the Italian unitary history.
Italy is no longer united, it is no longer one
Between September 1943 and April 1945 there are, on a political level, at least two Italie, some even say three.
We have a (legitimate) government in southern Italy of Badoglio appointed by the King, recognized and supported by the allies, in exile in Brindisi, while in northern Italy, there was on the one hand the (illegitimate) government by Mussolini, recognized and supported by Germany, who took office in Salò, and on the other hand, the various groups of the National Liberation Committee , CLN, divided into sections and supported by the allies, but who, while not fully recognizing the authority of the King, because he was held responsible for the advent of Fascism and guilty of having let Mussolini govern and ruin Italy by dragging it into that conflict, opposed directly and actively to the forces of the axis.
In the general calculation of the forces involved in Italy between 1943 and 1945, at least three factions and about five "players" appear.
From the outside there were the Anglo-Americans and the forces of the third reich, while inside there were the kingdom of Italy, the Italian social republic and the Italian liberation committee, the latter, of anti-fascist inspiration, was more than anything else a coalition of various groups, more or less close to each other on the political and ideological level, which had the common goal of freeing Italy from fascism and German occupation.
There is also a third Italy, a silent, slothful and in a certain sense passive Italy, a peasant Italy that went from north to south and who didn't care about who was in government, fascists, anti-fascists, liberals, communists, etc. these men and women, immersed in a war that they had not asked for and that in that war, as in the previous world war, they had lost love and family, and in this clash also their home and work due to the bombing, without an apparent reason.
CLN and Antifascism
Among the anti-fascists of the CLN, contrary to what is believed and said, there were not only "communists" , and indeed, there were also numerous fascists, or rather, former fascists, characters who had pushed the first fascism, that of the manifesto of the fascist intellectuals published in April 1925 and who had distanced themselves from the party, which had changed their vocation to starting from the authoritarian turn of 1929.
When at the end of April 1945, the German retreat began and many Italian cities were freed from occupation and Mussolini fell into the hands of the CLN, that war which should have ended already in September 43 and which had lasted unnaturally for almost two and a half years, it finally ceased, and the Italians were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, aware that in the days to come they would no longer be awakened in the middle of the night by sirens, anti-aircraft alarms and the din of bombs and shots exploding in distance and the only sound that was heard in those days, throughout Italy, was that of bells ringing in celebration.
Why is it celebrated on April 25th?
The Italians were finally free, free from German occupation but they were also free again, and it was a freedom that many Italians did not know or had forgotten, a freedom that lived only in the memories of those who had survived the great war, and for many it was strange to think that from that moment they could live as they wished and with whom they wished. Furthermore, for the families that had been separated by the war, a glimmer of peace and hope was opened because fathers, sons and husbands who had left in force or volunteered for the war could now return, and in this sense the stories of young people and children are innumerable, who had known little or had not known at all their fathers, who for days, weeks, months, some even for years, remained with their noses stuck to the windows waiting for some shape to appear on their horizon and from afar an elderly voice or maternal, told them “Dad is home” . Unfortunately for many, many, this hope was just a hope that never materialized.
The anniversary of the liberation was established as a secular holiday starting in 1946 , came, that year the anniversary of the end of that atrocious and unhealthy conflict was celebrated, and it was at the same time a day of mourning, but also of relief, because loved ones had not seen them return and celebration, for those who had them seen back.
When the first anniversary of the liberation was celebrated, Italy was still the Kingdom of Italy, the historic referendum of June 2 that would transform the country into a republic would be held just a month later, and with the transformation into a Republic, many of the holidays and secular celebrations of the country, linked to the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, were missing, many, but not all, one in fact survived, survived April 25, survived the day in which Italy was once again one.
April 25 represents the Easter of the republic
April 25 represents the Easter of the republic marks the resurrection of the state from the dead, a death that had lasted for a little over three days, and just like in the Christian Easter, Christ had died to blot out the sins of humanity , so on April 25 the liberation absolved the Italians of their sins.
The twenty years of fascism, war crimes, the war alongside the axis and in the end the civil war were consigned to history and a new chapter began for Italy, in the name of the republic, freedom and democracy and as well as the Easter is the most important holiday in Christianity, so the anniversary of the liberation is the most important holiday in the Italian republic.
After all, the republican Italy that would have been born from the referendum of 2 June, as we know, would have been an Italy forged in the sign of Christianity and supported for over forty years by the Christian Democrats, whose imprint in the definition of 25 April is, my opinion, particularly evident.