Italy marks National Unity and Armed Forces Day as Mattarella honours four soldiers lost in Bosnia

Ceremony in Rome

Sergio Mattarella laid a laurel wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Altar of the Fatherland in Rome on 4 November, the day Italy marks National Unity and the Armed Forces. Giorgia Meloni, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, Senate president Ignazio La Russa, Chamber of Deputies president Lorenzo Fontana and Constitutional Court president Giovanni Amoroso attended the ceremony. At its close, the Frecce Tricolori aerobatic team flew over the monument, painting the red, white and green of the flag across the sky.

Four soldiers lost in Bosnia

The day was framed around the death of four Italian military personnel in a helicopter crash during a training exercise in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the days before 4 November. According to ANSA, Mattarella, Meloni and Crosetto attended the funeral of the four on Tuesday, 3 November. Meloni said in a message posted on X that the day reminds Italians of the price of service.

“Behind every uniform are women and men who have made a deliberate choice: to put the good of the nation ahead of their own.”

Mattarella expressed a similar sentiment in a statement issued on the day.

“Today, our thoughts are particularly intense and filled with sorrow for our service members who died in recent days in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Message to the defence minister

As is customary on 4 November, Mattarella sent a letter to Crosetto marking the 80th anniversary of the referendum through which Italians chose a republic after World War II. He wrote that the Armed Forces' oath of allegiance to the Republic draws on the values of its Constitution. He urged that the memory of the past be joined to hope for the future, and that the atrocities of the world wars not be repeated. Describing the present as a phase of particular complexity, he said the Armed Forces are deployed internationally to keep peace where it is compromised, alongside allied countries, and noted that traditional conflicts continue to bloody large parts of the world, including Europe, alongside widespread disinformation.

Reactions and Turin celebrations

La Russa invoked a sense of belonging to a single national community, while Fontana pointed to those who gave their lives for peace, freedom and security. Crosetto stressed the need for Armed Forces that are credible, modern and ready for the responsibilities ahead, ranging from defence of national territory to international missions and cyber security. Adolfo Urso, minister of enterprises and Made in Italy, expressed a moved memory of the four soldiers who died in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Turin, mayor Stefano Lo Russo called peace a daily commitment that requires responsibility, dialogue and strong institutions. The city's celebrations began at 10:00 in Piazza Castello with a flag-raising ceremony, continued with prayer at the Gran Madre di Dio church and wreaths at the military shrine, and closed at 17:00 with a flag-lowering.