Italy marked this year’s Festa della Repubblica, or Republic Day, on June 2, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the historic referendum held on the same date in 1946.

The referendum was called to decide the country’s form of government after World War II. On that day, Italians chose to end the monarchy and replace it with a democratic republic.

“After fascist rule and war, our people chose democracy. It is the identity of modern Italy,” said Fabrizio Grasselli, honorary president of the Tokyo branch of the Societa Dante Alighieri, an Italian cultural association, when I asked him what the day signifies.

Under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), the Kingdom of........

© The Asahi Shimbun