Anpi: 'The anti-fascist Republic was born in Bari 80 years ago' President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, took part in the celebrations. The first Congress of National Liberation Committees took place in the theater of the Apulian capital on 28 and 29 January 1944.
"Let us not forget the misdeeds, the shame and the catastrophe into which fascism dragged Italy," said Apulia's governor Michele Emiliano. "I am honored to bring the greeting of the Anpi to a celebration which, upon closer inspection, speaks of that pluralist national community that we call the democratic and anti- fascist Republic, which in some way begins to take shape here, exactly eighty years ago"