Let the Party Started

2 June is Italian Republic Day. The official ritual follows its usual order: the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by the military parade along Via dei Fori Imperiali, near the Colosseum. This year, however, the celebrations will also include a familiar exercise in civic spectacle: the predictable procession of distinguished figures from sport, the arts, and culture, assembled to give ceremony the appearance of public emotion.

The chosen location is the esplanade of the Quirinale, the seat of the Presidency of the Republic, where a large temporary stage is being built, partly obscuring the Presidential building. In the background are the multicolor patches necessary to calibrate the colour rendition of the massive cameras that will broadcast the show on the big screen.

The show will last a few hours and will probably be forgotten by the following day. The fountain, by contrast, will continue to pour water as it has done for centuries, indifferent to the scaffolding, the screens, the speeches, and the next display of official melancholy.