June 2nd Celebration / Republic Day

A civic anniversary that belongs to the town

The June 2nd Celebration is a staple in the calendar of recurring events for the Municipality of Forano, a small town in the Bassa Sabina area, in the province of Rieti, Lazio. It is not a food festival or a show; it is a sober and inclusive civic celebration that brings together the municipal administration, local associations, volunteers, and especially the children of the local Primary School every year.

The traditional program includes the gathering of authorities, the flag-raising ceremony, the singing of the national anthem, the laying of a wreath in memory of the fallen, and a public reading of articles from the Italian Constitution. Often, the students themselves read, sing, and present projects prepared in class during the preceding weeks: a direct and concrete way to explain what happened on June 2, 1946, when Italians—and for the first time, Italian women—were called to choose between a monarchy and a republic.

2026 and the 80th anniversary of the Republic

In 2026, to mark the eightieth anniversary of the birth of the Republic and the recognition of women's right to vote, the Municipality of Forano and the Municipal Library added a special event to the institutional celebration: «The vote that changed Italy», hosted on Saturday, June 6th, at the Casa della Pace.

The meeting retraced the return to democracy after fascism, the first administrative elections of 1946, and the institutional referendum, with a particular focus on women's participation in political life. The journey was built upon original documents preserved in the Municipal Historical Archive, which reveal the faces and names of those who rebuilt the administration in Forano during the post-war period.

The women of the Constituent Assembly and the first female mayors

The heart of the 2026 edition was the story of the twenty-one women elected to the Constituent Assembly and the first Italian female mayors. Special emphasis was placed on Anna Montiroli Coccia, elected in 1946 to lead Roccantica, also in the province of Rieti: the first female mayor in Italy. A Sabina figure who directly links national history to the local territory, explaining why this celebration holds such particular significance here.

Why it is worth attending

Visitors to the Sabina region during these days will find the town in its most authentic form, without tourist filters. Republic Day in Forano is brief—usually just a few hours on the morning of June 2nd—but it effectively captures the spirit of a community that identifies with its own institutions.

• Free and open participation for all events.
• Strong school involvement: an event suitable for families with children.
• Promotion of the Municipal Historical Archive, a little-known documentary heritage of the Bassa Sabina.
• Context: Forano is just a few kilometers from Poggio Mirteto and the Tiber valley, in a hilly area perfect for a spring excursion.

The Bassa Sabina context

Forano is part of the Union of Municipalities of the Bassa Sabina and shares an active territorial library system with neighboring towns, which in recent years has promoted archival research, meetings, and initiatives of civic memory. It is within this framework that the June 2nd anniversary has taken on a broader cultural dimension beyond the simple institutional ceremony, becoming an opportunity for historical outreach open to all.