Frecce Tricolori jets to fly over Rome on 4 November.

Italy's president Sergio Mattarella will attend a ceremony at Rome’s Altare della Patria in honour of national unity and the armed forces at 09.00 on Monday 4 November.

The date of the annual Giorno dell'Unità nazionale e Giornata delle Forze Armate coincides with the anniversary of the armistice of Villa Giusti in 1918, which ended world war one on the Italian front.

The president will lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Piazza Venezia in honour of Italy’s war dead and casualties of international peacekeeping missions.

The Frecce Tricolori flying over Rome today in a spectacular display to mark Italy’s Giorno dell'Unità Nazionale e Giornata delle Forze Armate #4Novembre pic.twitter.com/F1ZDJhZG13

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) November 4, 2023

The solemn ceremony in Rome will include a flypast by the Italian air force’s Frecce Tricolori jets which emit plumes of the three colours from the Italian flag.

The event will result in street closures, parking restrictions and traffic disruption in the area around Piazza Venezia, for details check the city's mobility website in the days beforehand.

At midday on 4 November, President Mattarella and defence minister Guido Crosetto will attend a military event in Venice to mark the national day which is not a public holiday in Italy.

A parallel military event is planned at the Circus Maximus in Rome where the 'Villaggio Difesa' will take place from 1 November (a public holiday in Italy for All Saints' Day) until 4 November.

A similar event scheduled at the landmark Roman site was cancelled last year over security concerns in relation to the Middle East crisis.

Italy’s Guardia di Finanza band performing Puccini’s Nessun Dorma at the Circus Maximus in Rome as part of celebrations for National Unity and Armed Forces Day on 4 November. pic.twitter.com/KK6It4lrZc

— Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) November 2, 2024

Last year Minister Crosetto announced that the government is at work to restore National Unity and Armed Forces Day as a public holiday.

Introduced in 1919, the Giorno dell'Unità nazionale e Giornata delle Forze Armate ceased being a national public holiday in 1977.

This year, for the second year, Italy will mark the annual day by opening its state-run museums and archaeological sites for free.