End-of-year message from the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella

Dear fellow citizens,

a year that has not been easy is drawing to a close. We are all well aware of the reasons for this and, as always, we hope better times will come.

Above all, we hope there will be peace.

When we see houses and dwellings reduced to rubble by the bombings of Ukrainian cities, when we see powerplants destroyed with the aim of leaving children, elderly people, women and men in the cold of the freezing winter of those lands, when we see the devastation in Gaza, where babies are dying of frostbite, the desire for peace keeps growing. And the refusal of those who deny such peace out of their boldness becomes ever more incomprehensible and repugnant.

Actually, peace is a way of thinking: that of living with other people, respecting them, not presuming to impose one’s will, interests and dominion upon them.

The way of thinking – the mindset – originate from daily life. They concern all spheres: the international one, the internal one of individual States, of every community, be it large or small. For every people, it originates from its national dimension.

Over Christmas, as the Year of the Jubilee of Hope was coming to an end, Leo XIV – to whom I extend the warmest wishes of the Italian people – urged us to “reject hatred, violence and opposition, and to practice dialogue, peace and reconciliation”. He called for the need to disarm words.

Let us heed this call. If every circumstance becomes the pretext for violent verbal clashes, for reciprocal accusations, where argumentative force gains the upper hand over any basis, then no approach to peace is expressed, nor are its foundations laid.

When we ask ourselves “what can I do?”, we must rid ourselves of that fatalistic sense of powerlessness that risks oppressing everyone.

The affirmation of freedom and the construction of peace are enshrined in the founding act of our Republic, which expresses the will to build the future together, through dialogue. It symbolises the responsibility of being citizens.

In the year to come, we will be celebrating the Republic’s 80th anniversary.

Eighty years are not many if we view them through the lens of history, yet they have been highly significant decades.

Let us skim through an imaginary album of the history of the Republic, as we sometimes do when we gather with our families.

The first frame of our journey is related to women. The sign of the people’s unity was indeed emblematically represented by women voting, finally going to the polls for the first time.

That sign endowed the Republic with a permanent democratic character, paving the way for a full equality – a process that is still underway.

The Constituent Assembly, elected when the referendum that endorsed the republican choice was held, succeeded in identifying a synthesis of great value as the political debate was developing amidst convergences and clashes, sometimes very marked.

In the morning, the Assembly members would discuss and argue about tangible government measures, and in the afternoon, they would get together to draft our Constitutional charter. The Italian Constitution, which has inspired and guided the country across all these decades.

The Republic has been a watershed in our history.

A State that does not dominate its citizens, but a State that recognises inviolable rights, the liberty of individuals, the autonomies of communities.

The Italian democracy that gets going in the aftermath of World War II is young and dynamic, it takes root, it dialogues with the world.

The images of the signing of the Treaties of Rome in 1957 represent another success, another crucial moment, with Italy at the forefront in the construction of the new Europe.

Indeed, Europe itself and transatlantic relations, along with the Marshall Plan, are the two pillars of that reconstruction. The European Union and the Atlantic Alliance have consistently represented – and still do – the coordinates of our international action.

A great season of reforms would change Italy’s profile. The agrarian reform, the housing plan, whose memory recalls the problems young couples are encountering in our cities today, when looking for a house.

The years of the economic miracle showcase the faces of workers in factories and those working on the great infrastructure projects that would modernise the country.

Labour, a pivotal lever of development. The workers’ statute was the tool that acknowledged and sanctioned rights, dignity and the right to form trade unions. Such values call for the full respect of the inalienable right to safety at work and fair remuneration.

Just like the institution of the national healthcare system, which ensures universal, free-of-charge healthcare, thereby representing another decisive achievement of the welfare state, which revolves around the person’s dignity and the concept of full equality. Alongside this, national insurance for all. These are conditions to be preserved across time and change.

The contribution of culture, art, cinema, literature and music to the growth of national identity has been – and still is – fundamental. The public service role entrusted to RAI, to guarantee pluralism, is a key prerequisite for a broad engagement of the people in the Republic’s institution.

Other images. Disquieting, this time. Massacres. Terrorism. We remember the faces and names of the victims. Judges, journalists, men of the institutions, law enforcement members. Many, too many young people killed in the name of ideologies whose only tool is violence. That period would be called the night of the Republic.

But Italy prevailed. The institutions proved to be stronger than terror, thanks to the unity of political and social sides, which succeeded in safeguarding the founding principles of the Republic.

Sport too is in the spotlight, in our album. Unforgettable stories and athletes. The protagonists of the Rome 1960 Olympics, when Italy introduced paralympic participation for the first time. Sport has therefore contributed to the country’s growth, given us moments of joy, of pride, a sense of belonging. It happens every time we listen to the Italian national anthem during a medal-awarding ceremony. And it shall all happen again, at the Milano-Cortina winter games.

Disseminating sport, as well as the message of peace, friendship and inclusion it carries, is a powerful antidote against youth violence and drugs.

The film of memory rolls on. Two faces we can never forget are those of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, symbolising lawfulness and the long struggle against the mafia. Their legacy has outlasted their assassination: they are still an example to be followed – not only in Italy – for the younger generations and for all those who will not give in to the arrogance of crime.

Years of tensions and great change have accompanied us as we entered the new century. The new millennium. Change has run deep: from language to lifestyles, to our currency.

These eighty years are like a great mosaic, whose overarching meaning is visible only when we move further away from the single tesserae that form it.

We obviously cannot overlook shortfalls and contradictions, but we once were a society with a low level of education and high emigration rates. We have become one of the world’s leading countries in terms of manufacturing and export, capable of enhancing ingenuity and creativity in a wide range of sectors. We are appreciated across the world for our lifestyles, for the beauty of our lands, for the art treasures we host. For the food and wine culture, which has become international heritage.

Italy is a high-profile actor on the international stage, even thanks to the contribution that our military have given, and still give, to peace and security building. Again, this has come at a price, starting from the sacrifice of our airmen during a humanitarian mission in Kindu, in the Congo, back in 1961.

Republican Italy is a story of success in the world. We can and must be proud of this.

We can because this story results from the sacrifice, commitment and participation of many generations of Italian women and men. Everyone has put a tessera in that mosaic. Every home, every family, has a story to tell.

We often say that, every day, we must experience and bear witness to the principles and values the men and women of the Constituent Assembly engraved in the Constitution eighty years ago. This is what made them a reality in the choices each one of us makes, on a daily basis.

Social cohesion in freedom and democracy is our real strength and it has allowed us to make Italy the great country that it is today. The legitimate debate between different standpoints has contributed to the concrete achievements that have changed the lives of people, for the better. Rights and duties have gradually become real, not merely abstract claims.

Thinking about what we have achieved together is the prerequisite for confidently looking to the future, with a renewed and shared commitment. Knowing that this story can give us the strength we need to serenely face the challenges and perils of our time.

Old and new poverties – which exist and must be urgently countered – inequality, injustice, conducts that are detrimental to the common good, such as corruption, tax fraud, environmental crimes, are cracks that risk jeopardising that social cohesion which we consider one of our precious assets.

This common good, however, is never fully and definitively acquired. It’s a good we must commit to, each one of us, based on the extent of our responsibility. Nobody can feel excused from this. Because we are the Republic. Every single one of us.

We must face old and new problems, favoured by the uncertainty of the current international context. Furthermore, we are now entering an era where everything becomes global and interdependent, from the economy to the environment, from climate to the technological revolutions that affect our lives, from pandemic risks to fundamentalist terrorism networks.

But no hurdle is stronger than our democracy.

We must all bear this mind. And I would particularly like to turn to the younger ones.

There are some people who judge you without truly knowing you, describing you as suspicious, detached, angry. Do not give in.

Be demanding. Be brave. Choose your own future.

Feel as responsible as the generation that built modern Italy, eighty years ago.

Best wishes!

Happy 2026!