On 25 April Italy celebrates the 68th Festa della Liberazione which marks the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation and fascist rule at the end of world war two.

A public holiday across Italy, all state schools and offices are closed as well as many shops, and the main commemorative events are centred in Rome.

At 09.30 about 5,000 people are expected to march from Via di S. Gregorio, near the Arch of Travertine, to Porta S. Paolo with the Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia (ANPI).

At 10.00 the 68th Gran premio ciclistico della Liberazione race for cyclists in the under 23 category begins at Viale Terme di Caracalla and ends in Largo Vittime del Terrorismo. Over 170 cyclists from 34 Italian cycling clubs – as well as cyclists from the national teams of Australia, Russia, Slovenia, Japan and Ukraine – are involved in the annual race, which ends at about 13.00.

The main event is preceded by a race for 25 amateur cyclists from 08.00-09.00; while this year there is also a new tourist cycle-walk around Caracalla, incorporating Appia Antica, Porta S. Sebastiano and the Mura Latine.

There are a number of other cycling events in the capital that morning. The Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta (FIAB) is organising the Resistere, pedalare, resistere 25-km cycle at 10.00 from Porta S. Paolo, comprising the locations most associated with the liberation movement in Rome.

Taking place concurrently is the Pedalata partigiana which is organised by the Unione Italiana Sport Per tutti (UISP) and begins at Piazza Persiani-Nuccitelli (Via Mariano da Sarno). The cyclists reach S. Lorenzo at 10.30, Porta S. Paolo at 11.00, the Liberation Museum at 12.30, before finishing in Pigneto at 13.30.

In the Pigneto district, celebrations are spread out over two days, beginning on the evening of Wednesday 24 April and lasting until late on 25 April. The 12th edition of Pigneto, Quartiere in Festa includes music, cinema, theatre, literature and sport.

The main Festa della Liberazione events conclude at 20.30 with the screening of the commemorative film Il coraggio di ricordare at Porta S. Paolo, where the Allied forces first entered Rome in 1944.

There are numerous disruptions to public transport as well as traffic diversions during the day, from 07.00. For full details see the Muoversi a Roma website.