Florence to mark Liberation Day with official ceremony at Palazzo Vecchio

Florence is preparing to celebrate the 81st anniversary of Italy’s Liberation from Nazi-fascism on Saturday, 25 April 2026, with a series of official ceremonies and public initiatives throughout the day.

The main institutional event will take place in the historic centre, beginning at 10 a.m. in Piazza dell’Unità Italiana with a wreath-laying ceremony in honour of those who died in all wars. The event will be attended by Mayor Sara Funaro, Prefect Francesca Ferrandino and Tuscany regional president Eugenio Giani, along with representatives of veterans’ associations and the armed forces. 

A procession will then move through the city centre to Palazzo Vecchio, where the official ceremony is scheduled at 11 a.m. on the building’s outdoor platform (arengario). Speakers will include Mayor Funaro, constitutional law scholar Silvana Sciarra, former president of Italy’s Constitutional Court, and Vania Bagni, head of Florence’s branch of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI). 

The day will conclude with a concert by the Filarmonica Gioacchino Rossini at 5.30 p.m., again on the arengario of Palazzo Vecchio. 

Morning commemorations across the city

Several initiatives will take place earlier in the day, focusing on remembrance and local history.

At 8 a.m., a ceremony is planned at Trespiano cemetery, on the northern outskirts of Florence, in memory of Gilda La Rocca, a partisan linked to Radio Co.Ra., a clandestine radio station used during the Nazi occupation of Florence in 1944 to communicate with Allied forces. The event is organised by the Rete Democratica Fiorentina and will include participation from the city’s councillor for “memory culture”. 

At 9.45 a.m., a new memorial plaque will be unveiled in Ponte a Ema, a district on the south-eastern edge of Florence, dedicated to Italian Military Internees (IMI) who resisted Nazi forces without taking up arms. The ceremony will take place at the Vittorino da Feltre school and will include local officials and representatives of historical associations. Students from the school will also present a short performance. 

A national anniversary with local significance

Italy’s Liberation Day, celebrated every year on 25 April, marks the end of Nazi occupation and fascist rule in 1945. Florence was awarded a gold medal for its role in the Resistance, reflecting the intensity of fighting and the contribution of local partisan groups to the city’s liberation.

As in previous years, the programme combines official ceremonies with grassroots initiatives, linking national history to local memory and neighbourhood-level commemorations.

(Cover photo: Anton Volnuhin via Unsplash)

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