Italy's president Sergio Mattarella will attend the annual ceremony to mark National Unity and Armed Forces Day at Rome’s Altare della Patria at 10.00 on 4 November. Accompanied by defence minister Lorenzo Guerini and top military authorities, the head of state will lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, or il Milite Ignoto, a century after he was buried there in honour of Italy’s war dead.

There will be a flypast by the air force’s Frecce Tricolori aerial acrobatic team whose jets will emit plumes of the three colours from the Italian flag. A military parade is also expected, leading to street closures and bus diversions in the area around Piazza Venezia.