April 25, is when Italians celebrate their liberation during WWII. I have remarked on more than one occasion, that the collective memory of the war, or perhaps more aptly put, war in general, is never very far from ones awareness here in Italy. There are many memorials and even more commemorations of all the reasons that war is never glorious, just wrenching. So on this bank holiday every year, there are parades and speeches and picnics and outings etc etc., oftentimes a trip to the cemetery, and as is usually the case in Italy, a meal somewhere along the line on your outing. I find it is much like Memorial day in America.
On our visit to the market I noticed numerous Italian flags adorning balconies and lawns and all the vendors had these little flags to commemorate the day. Viva the 25th of April. I imagine the Commune passed them out as they checked to make sure everyone's vending license was paid up as well.
We noticed this decorated war veteran and asked if he minded me taking his picture.
He was doing a little shopping before heading over to the commemoration.
He cut a fine figure on this Liberation day, don't you think?
He was doing a little shopping before heading over to the commemoration.
He cut a fine figure on this Liberation day, don't you think?
2 comments:
We have Remembrance Day which is November 11th to commemorate our veterans. Nothing involving food which is defintely a pity.
We have the November day remembrance also. I agree that most of the war remembrances don't involve food, just flowers usually for the graves. I agree that it is a pity that it doesn't involve food.
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