On 2 June 1946 the people of Italy went to the polls to throw out the monarchy and form the first Italian Republic. Sort of. There was indeed an Italian Republic that was set up by Napoleon in 1802, but it lasted only 3 years.

And of course my lot were running a republic for about a thousand years after we tossed Tarquin out in 509 BC. Though, yeah, I agree that it was really a republic in name only after Octavian did his thing. And it wasn't really an Italian republic; there was a reason that we put the "R" in SPQR. And nobody mention the Social Wars (or Bellum Sociale, as we called it back then). It's Hollywood's fault that people forget about the time when Rome and Italy were two separate things.

So, OK, 2 June 1946 marks the effective founding of the first republic of Italy as we know the country today. (What we have today is officially termed the Second Republic, which is sort of regarded as having commenced in 1992 despite the fact that the closest thing there was to a constitutional change around that time was the 1993 referendum which changed the Senate to proportional representation.)

2 June is a public holiday in Italia with major celebrations. It is therefore also Italian week in Wollongong with a celebration called "Tutti In Piazza". (All / everybody in the square / mall.) It was organised by the Italian Teacher's Association of the Illawarra (ITAI).

Aaah... if this is "tutti", we may have a problem. Granted it's the middle of winter here... well, it's the start of winter here, but that's all the more reason why what is needed is hot, hearty and pasta based. In reality there were about half a dozen tents selling cold food and sweet treats. Now all that said... even though the high water mark of Italians in the Illawarra was perhaps 40 to 50 years ago now when the steel mills were in full swing and before the economy of Italy recovered from the war, the I.T.A.I. seems to have improved its web site considerably since I last looked at it. (Though it still has a very 1999ish flavour to it.) More importantly the range of activities that it has been organising seems to have been increasing of late. More importantly still it seems to be getting better at making sure that information about time and dates is there. If the administrators keep going as they are, they may yet be able to fire up a revival of Italian culture in the region and have events which are better attended than today's is.

Spero di sì.