Locked in their house for a month and a half, the Italians went to the window on Saturday for Liberation Day to sing their hymn but also the song of the Partisans, " Bella Ciao ".
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Fighter planes have unleashed the tri-color colors over a sunny Rome, with empty streets due to confinement in these times of coronavirus pandemic.
But a few minutes earlier, thousands of locals sang the " Bella Ciao " on the occasion of this celebration which marked the liberation of Milan, Turin and Genoa in 1945, and the defeat of the Nazis in the peninsula.
The choice of this song, very marked on the left, caused the gnashing of teeth of Italians who do not recognize it.
" I respect those who have given life in the past for the freedom of our country, but I consider it a priority right now, rather than singing 'Bella Ciao', to help with money the citizens who are in the need ”, wrote on Twitter Matteo Salvini, head of the League (far right), the country's leading party. " This morning a priest told me that he was being prevented from celebrating " mass in public, " while others can celebrate, " he continued.
The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, elected from the left in a region acquired from the League of Matteo Salvini, had invited a friend, the musician Saturnino, to play " Bella Ciao " on the balcony of the town hall, in front of rare passers-by.
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella laid a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier where he went masked on the face, a ceremony held in very small groups. Even his escort remained far from the tomb.
Ally of Hitler's Germany, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had been overthrown in July 1943, then arrested, before being released by a German commando to institute in Salo (north) a puppet regime supported by the Nazi troops who had then reinforced their presence on the peninsula where supporters were more and more active over the months.
