Circus Maximus event on 4 November cancelled.

Italy has scaled back its celebrations in Rome to mark national unity and the armed forces on 4 November, cancelling a planned military event at the Circus Maximus for "security reasons".

The move, reported by news agency ANSA citing informed sources, comes days after defence minister Guido Crosetto said the event was at risk of being cancelled over security concerns in relation to the Middle East crisis.

Italy's other events to mark the annual Giorno dell'Unità nazionale e Giornata delle Forze Armate will go ahead as planned, including the ceremony at the Altare della Patria in Piazza Venezia.

The Frecce Tricolori fly over a rainy Rome in a spectacular display to mark Italy’s Giorno dell'Unità Nazionale e Giornata delle Forze Armate #4Novembre pic.twitter.com/VC07G5tdNh

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) November 4, 2022

President Mattarella will lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honour of Italy’s war dead and casualties of international peacekeeping missions, followed with a flypast by the Frecce Tricolori jets emitting plumes of the colours from the Italian flag.

Later that morning Mattarella and Crosetto are due to attend a military parade in Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, reports ANSA.

The date of the national day, which is not a public holiday, coincides with the anniversary of the armistice of Villa Giusti in 1918 which ended world war one on the Italian front.

Photo Ministero della Difesa