Italy marks 80 years of the Republic with ceremony and military display

Italy marked the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Republic on Tuesday with ceremonies, military parades and flypasts in Rome, according to Euronews. The commemoration recalled the 1946 vote that paved the way for democracy and ended the monarchy's reign over the Italian state.

The ceremonies took place across the capital, with the military display forming the centrepiece of the nation's observance. The anniversary represents a symbolic moment for a country whose postwar constitution established a parliamentary republic and, later, membership in the European Union and NATO.

The date marks a watershed in Italian history: the referendum of June 2, 1946, in which Italian voters chose a republican form of government over the restoration of the House of Savoy. The result was narrow — 54 per cent in favour of the republic — yet decisive enough to reshape the nation's political architecture for the subsequent eight decades.