Constitution child of anti-Fascism - Mattarella

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 25 - The Italian Constitution is the child of anti-Fascism, President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella said on Tuesday during a ceremony to mark the country's liberation from Fascism and Nazi occupation.
    "The crisis in the country required a decisive moment, a new idea of community, after the failure of the previous one," said Mattarella. It was, continued the President, a matter of "instilling into the State the authentic soul of the Nation", of giving life "to a new Italy".
    "(This) commitment and (this) promise have been fulfilled during these 75 years of the Republican Constitution. A Republic founded on the Constitution, child of the anti-fascist struggle," he said.
    "It was a tough struggle to ensure Italy's survival in the catastrophe brought about by Fascism," continued Mattarella.
    "We were helped by soldiers from other countries who became friends and solid allies: many of them are buried in Italy," he added.
    Mattarella also said the Resistance provided the impetus to make "definitive choices" concerning the freedoms of the Italian people and the democratic system, "rejecting the ambiguities that had allowed the distortion" of the country's previous constitution, the so-called Albertine Statute, under Fascism.
    (ANSA).