Italy marks 80 years of Republic as inland towns reckon with change

Italy marked the 80th anniversary of the Republic on Tuesday with military parades, flypasts and ceremonies in Rome, according to Euronews. The celebrations commemorated the 1946 referendum that abolished the monarchy and established the democratic Republic. The ceremonies included the traditional military parade and official state events, reasserting the symbols and continuity of the Italian state on an anniversary that falls at a moment of significant change in the country's demography and regional character.

The Republic's founding in 1946 followed the collapse of Fascism and the end of the Second World War. The 1946 referendum was a watershed: it marked the Italian people's choice to abandon monarchy and embrace republican democracy. For eighty years, the Republic has endured through numerous governments, constitutional reforms, and crises — from the political violence of the 1970s to the financial crisis of 2008 to the pandemic. The military parade in Rome, a ritual repeated annually on the Republic's founding day, reasserts continuity and state authority.

Yet the Italy of 2026 is profoundly different from the Italy of 1946 or even 1980. The population is ageing rapidly, with a birth rate among the lowest in Europe. Young people continue to emigrate, particularly from the south and from inland regions. The state's fiscal capacity has been constrained by debt and European fiscal rules. Public services — healthcare, education, transport — have contracted in many inland areas. Tourism has become the primary economic driver in some regions, while agriculture has consolidated into fewer, larger operations. The Republic's institutions remain formally intact, but their reach and capacity in inland Italy have diminished.