Rome, 23 April (LaPresse) – The Liberation struggle “marks the moral and civic redemption of a people who, in the Resistance, demonstrated the strength and capacity to uphold the values of freedom, justice, peace and democracy. Those values, enshrined in our Constitution, are not merely the fruit of a historical period: they constitute the foundation of our civic coexistence and of Italy’s presence on the international stage. A status achieved at great cost, which reminds us, every single day, of our responsibility to defend and renew it." So said the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, whilst meeting representatives of the Combatants’ and Armed Forces’ Associations at the Quirinale on the occasion of the 81st anniversary of Liberation.