Marking Republic Day, Italy's president urges social cohesion

ROME, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Italian President Sergio Mattarella marked the 73rd Republic Day on Sunday, urging civil servants to promote social cohesion as the Frecce Tricolori air squad colored the sky of Rome with a traditional acrobatic performance.

Mattarella presided over a military parade held along the Imperial Fora, together with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the defence minister, the speakers of both houses of Parliament, and high-level army representatives.

As usual, the ceremony had been opened by the president laying down a flower wreath before the Unknown Soldier monument in the nearby Piazza Venezia.

"The plurality and diversity our Republican Constitution has meant to ensure live in the loyal cooperation between State and local authorities, and in the synergy between various levels of government," Mattarella remarked in a letter to Italy's prefects.

"The prefects -- who are actors of social and institutional cohesion -- have the duty to promote an efficient synthesis of these complexities, and to put themselves at the service of territorial needs," he added.

The president explained the sense of a "cohesive and supportive community" needed efforts to mediate between different interests across the society, which was the "heart of the function exerted by prefects in many sectors... aimed at finding a balance point to put the greater good before personal interests."

"This task is even more sensitive today, and especially in some areas of the country, where the economic uncertainties seem to offer no solid perspectives to many workers," Mattarella stressed.

Sunday's ceremony in the historic center culminated with the exhibition of the Frecce Tricolori Air Force acrobatics team performing their fly in formation over the city, leaving behind smoke trails in green, white, and red -- the colors of the Italian flag.

In a national referendum held on June 2, 1946, Italians chose republic instead of monarchy as constitutional framework for their country. That was also the first time Italian women were granted the right to vote.

The date is therefore celebrated in Italy as the birth of the new state in the aftermath of World War II. Enditem