Italy's 'armistice of 8 September' was actually signed on the 3rd
On 3 September 1943, in a tent pitched in an olive grove near Cassibile, a hamlet of Siracusa in Sicily, General Castellano signed the armistice with the Allies on Badoglio's behalf; General Bedell Smith signed for Eisenhower. Then came five days of secrecy: the announcement only arrived on 8 September, first from Radio Algiers in Eisenhower's voice, then that evening from Badoglio on Italian radio. Which is why the date everyone remembers belongs to the broadcast, not to the signature among the olive trees.