by Maximiliano Crocamo
Interview:mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza
Italy celebrated the 81st Anniversary of Liberation Day on Saturday, April 25, 2026, marking 81 years since the end of the Nazi-Fascist occupation in 1945. Liberation Day represents the founding moment of the Italian Republic: it paved the way for the 1946 referendum that abolished the monarchy, the election of the Constituent Assembly, and the entry into force of the Italian Constitution on January 1, 1948.
In Trieste, the central commemoration took place at the Risiera di San Sabba National Monument — Italy’s only Nazi concentration camp on national soil equipped with a crematorium.
The ceremony, organized by the Municipality of Trieste, began at 11:00 a.m. in the monument’s inner courtyard with the laying of a laurel wreath, in the presence of civil, military, and religious authorities. According to ANSA, the Mayor of Trieste stated that celebrating Liberation is not enough in itself and called for active commitment against hatred.
The event was held with funding from the Ministry of Culture and in collaboration with the Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary History in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Irsrec FVG).
This year’s commemorations also mark the 50th anniversary of the 1976 criminal trial for crimes committed at the Risiera di San Sabba.
