By Joel Schalit
No day in the Italian calendar has become as controversial as Liberation Day.
Observed on the 25th of April, the national holiday commemorates the Italian Resistance’s triumph over the Nazis and Benito Mussolini’s fascists.
Though the Allies played a key role, Communist partisans led the fight.
Since the end of the Cold War, the holiday has been repeatedly attacked by centre and far-right parties in Silvio Berlusconi’s coalitions and, most recently, under Giorgia Meloni’s leadership.
I always attend Liberation Day events because they’re a great opportunity to take photographs and make field recordings.
They’re a peak ethnographic moment for Italian politics and the country’s left, whatever state it happens to be in.
This year, I decided to go to Milano to cover the festivities. Unsurprisingly, the Gaza war featured prominently.
The following photos were shot on Corso Venezia.
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Photographs courtesy of Joel Schalit. All rights reserved.