ROME, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Workplace safety was the dominant theme on Tuesday as Italy marked International Workers' Day, or May Day, with official celebrations, trade union marches, and traditional outdoor concerts.
In Rome, Italian President Sergio Mattarella started the day by placing a wreath at a monument commemorating almost 200 Italian workers who died during the decade-long construction of the 15-km St. Gotthard rail tunnel through the Alps, which connected Switzerland to Italy and which was the world's longest tunnel when it opened in 1882.
In a speech to the nation back at the Quirinal presidential palace, Mattarella expressed his solidarity with the unemployed, and especially with young people in search of a job.
Italy, a country of 60.6 million people, had 11.7-percent unemployment in 2017, and 2.8 million people were out of a job as of February this year, according to ISTAT national statistics institute.
Mattarella also said that even a single workplace injury or death is "an intolerable tragedy that... can and must be avoided".
There were 212 deaths on the job in Italy in the first quarter of 2018, up 11.6 percent compared to the same period last year, INAIL national workplace accident insurance agency said on Twitter.
Since 2010, the public institute has provided incentives worth 1.8 billion euros (about 2.17 billion U.S. dollars) to companies that invest in workplace safety, INAIL chief Giuseppe Lucibello said in a statement.
Mattarella was echoed by outgoing center-left Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who tweeted that "on May 1 we celebrate work, while also thinking of the jobs that are lacking and of the dignity that every job should provide. This is the primary challenge for any government."
Italy's "big three" national trade unions -- CGIL, CISL and UIL -- this year held their traditional May Day march in the Tuscan city of Prato under the slogan "Safety at the Heart of Work", with smaller marches also held in a number of other cities across the nation.
May Day celebrations in Italy also include a "concertone" or "big concert" in Rome organized by trade unions, with smaller outdoor concerts held in other cities such as Naples, Milan, Pescara, and Taranto.
This year's outdoors concert in the capital, featuring jazz, rock, pop, and electronic acts, runs from 4 p.m. to midnight local time amid tight security measures, including traffic deviations and a 36-hour ban on the sale of alcohol as Liverpool soccer fans reach the city ahead of tomorrow's Champions League semi-final match with Roma.
May Day has been celebrated in Italy since the end of the 19th century.
