A short blog on a festive occasion: Italy’s Festa della Repubblica, the 75th Anniversary of the Republic which Italy became after the June 2, 1946 referendum.  The date marks the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.  There is more to celebrate too : today about 40% of Italians has received at least one vaccine, bringing tremendous relief to this country that has been through so much.

In his address today, Italy’s President Mattarella spoke of Italians’ dignity, their belief in freedom, equality, and solidarity, qualities that allowed not only for the transformation by the peoples’ will from a monarchy into a Republic but that also permitted the post-War country to recover so quickly. He talked too about Italians’ ability to assume responsibility, when required, and at all levels and in many roles.

Italy in 1946 was a country devastated by the war, a country emerging from under mountains of physical rubble.  She had been the battlefield of two opposing armies, with the population divided between the two fronts.  Yet the moral strength of the Italians gave rise to redemption, which in less than twenty years made a defeated country one of the richest in the world, newly energized and a leader in the arts, cinema, fashion, technology, and science.

The country that today marks the 75th anniversary of its Republic has been through hell.   Yet Italians again, through collective will and determination, have restored their cities to places that hum with life.  While restaurants now close at 11, that will be pushed to midnight on June 6 and most likely eliminated altogether as the national curfew concludes.

In my birthplace, Rome, the Forum, the Palatine Hill and the Coliseum — some of the best open-air museums in the world —  are still mostly quiet, except on weekends, but even then, compared to years past, seem almost empty.

Indoor museums very efficiently run a timed entry scheme that limits numbers, quite often to 25%, meaning that you will frequently have a gallery or a painting or sculpture exquisitely to yourself or with the company of very few others.

Face masks are compulsory indoors and out, everywhere in fact unless you are entirely alone out of doors or actively (and delightfully) eating or drinking.

On this 75th Anniversary of their Republic, Italians have worked so hard to achieve this new normalcy and a return to a cherished way of life, and they are determined that it will not slip away.