Italy, which celebrates 80 years of the Republic in 2026, has a very delicate task: understand what it means to celebrate the Republic with this anniversary and protect it. Starting from the method adopted by the constituents who, despite having different or opposing positions, managed to give Italy the Constitution. On peace, it sends a clear message to those who sometimes confuse aggressors and those attacked and reminds us that the history of the Republic is “a success story”.
This, in summary, is the profound meaning of the traditional end-of-year message from the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who together with the Italians in 15 minutes of speech wanted to leaf through the album of the history of our country “as is often done in our families too”. And it recalls the first vote for women, the economic miracle of the fifties and sixties, the agrarian reform, the housing plan, the national health service, pensions for all. Great social achievements such as the Workers’ Statute, but also dramatic moments such as in the so-called years of lead and in the mafia wars.
The scenography, on the other hand, speaks for itself. To the right of the Head of State, on the lectern, a copy of the Constitution; on the left, the poster-symbol of the elections of 2 June 1946, with the bright face of a woman who was preparing to vote for the first time. It is from this highly evocative setting that, at 8.30 pm sharp, from the Studio alla Vetrata del Quirinale, the head of state, standing, delivered his eleventh end-of-year speech to Italians.
Remember to build peace
A message sober in tone, almost familiar, but crossed by a profound concern for the time in which we live. “Not an easy year, we hope to see better times,” said Mattarella, building his speech around the celebrations for the eightieth anniversary of the Republic and a firm, at times heartfelt, defense of democracy. Until the conclusion, entrusted to trust: “No obstacle is stronger than our democracy.”
“Our expectation is aimed at peace”, began the head of state, denouncing the ongoing wars: lRussian aggression against Ukraine and «the devastation of Gaza, where newborn babies freeze to death in the cold». Citing Pope Leo XIV’s plea to “disarm words,” the president called on each of us to “reject hatred” and to experience peace as “a way of thinking”, without imposing “one’s will, one’s interests, one’s dominion”. Then the appeal: «The refusal of those who deny it (peace, ed) because he feels stronger.”
The memory of a Republic built together
Mattarella remembered the women of 1946, called to the polls for the first time: their faces and their gestures marked “the sign of the unity of the people” and gave the Republic “a watershed in our history”, starting a path “towards full equality”. The constituents, he underlined, opposed each other in the commissions and in the chambers in the morning, but in the afternoon «together they made up the pieces of our Constitutional Charter», who has «inspired and guided the country for all these decades».
An implicit invitation to today’s politics to rediscover the bipartisan spirit, at least on the major issues. And a reminder of civic responsibility: «We are the Republic. Each of us.” Then his voice almost cracks as he remembers the hero magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, “symbols of legality”.
Protecting values and looking to young people
The post-war reconstruction and the reforms of the following years paved the way: the agrarian reform, the Housing Plan – which today “recalls the difficulties of young couples in finding a home in our cities” – the Workers’ Statute, the National Health Service and the social security system extended to all. Alongside these building blocks, the Head of State indicates culture, sport and the beauty of the territory as tools of cohesion and identity.
Today Italy is “a player of great importance on the international scene”, but this heritage requires care. The cracks in society – poverty, inequalities, corruption, fiscal infidelity, environmental crimes – must be combated. And to young people, the president entrusts the task of building the future: “Be demanding and courageous”, he urged, inviting them to feel “responsible like the generation that, eighty years ago, built modern Italy”.
