The Festa della Repubblica (Italian Republic Day) is Italy’s national holiday, celebrated every year on June 2. It commemorates the institutional referendum of June 2-3, 1946, when Italians chose a republic over the monarchy. It does not mark a battle won, but a decision made at the ballot box — the first truly universal vote in Italian history. That is why it speaks of identity before institutions, and why it reaches the millions of people of Italian descent who carry the country’s name far from its borders.
What does June 2 commemorate?
June 2 commemorates Italy’s choice to become a republic in 1946. On June 2 and 3 of that year, Italians went to the polls for an institutional referendum: keep the monarchy of the House of Savoy, or found a republic.
On the same days, Italians also elected the Assemblea Costituente (the Constituent Assembly), the body that would write the new constitution. It was the first national vote in which Italian women took part. Women’s suffrage had been granted by decree on February 1, 1945, and women had already voted in the local elections of spring 1946.
According to the Office of the President of the Italian Republic, about 28 million people were eligible to vote, and turnout topped 89%. According to official figures from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the republic received 12,718,641 votes and the monarchy 10,718,502: 54.3% against 45.7%. Three days later, on June 13, 1946, the last king of Italy, Umberto II of Savoy, left the country for Portugal.
Behind the numbers lies a sharp geographic divide: the North voted largely for the republic, while the South leaned toward the monarchy. In that sense, June 2 is also a snapshot of a country stitching itself back together around a shared decision.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| February 1, 1945 | Italian women granted the right to vote (Decree no. 23/1945) |
| Spring 1946 | Women vote for the first time, in local elections |
| June 2-3, 1946 | Institutional referendum: republic vs. monarchy |
| June 10, 1946 | The Court of Cassation proclaims the official results |
| June 13, 1946 | Umberto II of Savoy leaves Italy |
| January 1, 1948 | The Constitution of the Italian Republic takes effect |
Why is June 2 about identity, not just institutions?
June 2 is about identity because it marks the moment Italy chose its own form of government after fascism and the Second World War. It was not imposed from above: it was the result of a popular vote — the first truly universal one in Italian history.
Everything else followed from the 1946 referendum. The Constituent Assembly elected in those days worked for more than a year and a half, producing the Constitution of the Italian Republic, which took effect on January 1, 1948. To celebrate June 2 is to celebrate the birth certificate of that framework of rights and duties.
It helps to set the date apart from Italy’s two other major civic holidays. April 25 is Liberation Day, marking the end of Nazi-fascist occupation in 1945. November 4 is the Day of National Unity and the Armed Forces, tied to the end of the First World War in 1918. Of the three, June 2 is the only one that celebrates a choice made at the ballot box — not a military victory, but a civic decision.
How is June 2 celebrated in Italy?
June 2 is celebrated in Rome with an official ceremony and a parade, while state museums across Italy open for free. The day follows a long-established rhythm, led each year by the President of the Republic and the highest offices of the state.
In the morning, the President lays a laurel wreath at the Altare della Patria (the Altar of the Fatherland) in tribute to the Unknown Soldier. A military parade then proceeds along Via dei Fori Imperiali, with units of the Armed Forces, civilian corps of the state, military bands, and banners. To close, the Frecce Tricolori — the National Aerobatic Team — fly over central Rome, trailing green, white, and red smoke.
To watch from the stands along Via dei Fori Imperiali, you need accreditation through the Ministry of Defence platform (eventi.difesa.it); everyone else follows the parade from permitted areas along the route. On the same day, state museums and archaeological parks open free of charge, and the Quirinale Gardens are traditionally opened to visitors.
A practical note for anyone traveling or living in Italy: June 2 is a full public holiday. Government offices, banks, and schools are closed, and many shops keep holiday hours. When the date falls near a weekend, it often becomes the chance for a long weekend (a “ponte”).
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Morning | Laurel wreath laid at the Altare della Patria |
| Then | Military parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali |
| To close | Frecce Tricolori flyover above central Rome |
| All day | Free entry to state museums and archaeological parks |
What does June 2 mean for Italians abroad?
For Italians abroad, June 2 is the day belonging to Italy becomes visible, even thousands of miles away. The holiday is not celebrated only in Rome: Italy’s diplomatic network carries it to every continent. In 2025, for example, the Consulate General of Italy in New York gathered the community for Republic Day at The Glasshouse; the consulate in Buenos Aires held its traditional concert at the Teatro Coliseo; and in Melbourne the Italian Cultural Institute and the Consulate marked the anniversary with a major city event.
There is a historical coincidence that makes this bond especially close. Republican Italy was born in 1946, in the very years when millions of Italians were leaving for the Americas and Australia. Many emigrants left behind a monarchy and learned, from afar, that they had become citizens of a republic. Their descendants — Italian Americans, Italian Argentines, Italian Australians — carry that turning point today in their surnames and their documents.
That is why the celebrations hosted by consulates and the Italian Cultural Institutes (Istituti Italiani di Cultura) are not simply receptions. For people with Italian roots, they are moments to recover a piece of family history — and often the start of a deeper search, until a great-grandparent, a hometown, sometimes a right, comes back into view.
That is the point for readers outside Italy: Italian identity is not only a feeling. For the descendants of Italian citizens, it can become a concrete legal bond, through the recognition of citizenship by descent (cittadinanza per discendenza). More than any other date, June 2 is a reminder that this chain begins with a choice made in 1946.
A choice that still asks something of us
June 2 does not celebrate a conquest. It celebrates a question that remains open: what kind of country do we want to be? In 1946, Italians faced it for the first time as free men and women, in the aftermath of twenty years of dictatorship and a war that had torn the country apart. Into a single ballot they put not just a preference between monarchy and republic, but the idea that power should rise from below — from the vote of each citizen.
From that ballot came the Italy we live in: the constitution, the rights, the very shape of the state. And from it came, too, the Italy that recognizes itself beyond its borders — in the communities that every June 2, from New York to Melbourne, gather to remember where they come from.
That is why this date speaks even to those who have never lived in Italy but carry its surname. Understanding what June 2 commemorates is not an exercise in history: it is the first step toward recognizing that the choice, in some way, belongs to us too — and that the same question from 1946, who do we want to be, still concerns us.
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Because the institutional referendum was held on June 2-3, 1946, when Italians chose a republic over the monarchy. June 2 was set as the holiday to mark the first day of that historic vote.
April 25 is Liberation Day, marking the end of Nazi-fascist occupation in 1945. June 2 celebrates the birth of the republic through the 1946 referendum. They are two distinct civic holidays.
June 2 is a national holiday: government offices, banks, and schools are closed, and many shops keep holiday hours. State museums and archaeological parks, however, open to the public for free.
The first celebration was held in 1947 and the first parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali in 1948. The holiday was moved to the first Sunday of June in 1977 for economic reasons, then permanently restored to June 2 in 2001 by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
Italian women voted for the first time in a national vote at the referendum of June 2, 1946. They had already voted a few months earlier in the local elections of spring 1946, after gaining the right to vote in February 1945.
Seats in the stands along Via dei Fori Imperiali require accreditation through the Ministry of Defence platform (eventi.difesa.it). Those without a seat can follow the parade from the public areas along the route.
