Every year on April 25th, Italy celebrates Liberation Day, a highly significant anniversary in Italian history: it commemorates the Country's liberation from Nazi-fascism, marking the end of Nazi occupation and the fall of fascism. It is a national holiday, symbolizing the Resistance and the partisan struggle conducted since September 8th, 1943 (the day Italians learned about the signing of the armistice in Cassibile). The war did not end on April 25th, 1945; it is a symbolic day chosen because it marks the beginning of the German and Republic of Salò soldiers' retreat from Milan and Turin, following the Allied breakthrough of the Gothic Line and the actions of the Resistance. On the proposal of Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, on April 22nd, 1946, King Umberto II issued a decree: "In celebration of the complete liberation of Italian territory, April 25th, 1946, is declared a national holiday." The anniversary was celebrated in the following years, but it was only in 1949 that it was institutionalized as a national holiday, along with June 2nd, Republic Day. Since then, every year, in various cities from North to South Italy, public events are organized on April 25th in memory of Liberation.
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