How did the Kingdom of Italy become a republic?

After World War 2, Italy was war-torn and economically depleted. The general public had feelings of resentment and distrust towards the Italian monarchy because of its previous support for Prime Minister Benito Mussolini’s fascism. A couple of years prior to the end of the war, there had been politically motivated civil wars in the kingdom, mostly between Benito Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy, the Italian Monarchy in Southern Italy, and unincorporated anti-fascist activists. In 1946, King Victor Emmanuel, the penultimate king of Italy, abdicated his throne and his son, Umberto II ascended to the throne. Umberto II was only king for 34 days, as a referendum, namely the Italian Institutional Referendum, was decided. The Italian Institutional Referendum was an early democratic exercise in which a general constitution for Italy would be drafted and the people of Italy would get to vote on the style of government that they wanted in power. The two choices were a monarchy (kings) or a republic (elected officials). This referendum, ordered by decree of Umberto II, which was held on June 2, and 3 of 1946, yielded the following results: 12.7 million Italian citizens voted in favor of a republic and 10.7 million voted in favor of continued monarchies. This vote was simultaneously the decider of the Italian general election of 1946 in which the citizens of Italy elected 556 deputies to the Constituent Assembly (the congress of Italy). The Christian Democracy Party won 207 seats in this election, the Socialist Party won 115 seats, and the Communist Party won 104 seats. Alcide de Gespari of the Christian Democracy Party, being the leader of the dominant Christian Democracy Party, became the provisional Head of State of Italy. This event effectively lead to the general election of 1948, in which the first Republican Parliament of Italy (the new congress of Italy) was elected by the people to replace the provisional Constituent Assembly. Italy, as a result of these political transformations, obtained a new sense of purpose and identity and has remained a democratic republic ever since.