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La festa di laurea è durata per tre ore.

La festa di laurea è durata per tre ore.
The graduation party lasted for three hours.
From Lesson 100:Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)·Italian

Questions & Answers about La festa di laurea è durata per tre ore.

Why do we use per here to say "for three hours", and not da?
We use per because this describes a completed block of time in the past—the party is already over. You use da when an action started in the past but is still happening right now, which would also require using the present tense.
Why does the verb durare (to last) use è instead of ha, and why does it end in an -a (durata)?
In Italian, the verb durare uses essere (to be) as its helper verb in the past tense, rather than avere (to have). Whenever a verb takes essere, its past participle must agree with the subject. Since la festa is feminine and singular, the participle changes to durata.
Why is "graduation party" translated as festa di laurea?
In English, we often put a noun in front of another noun to describe it ("graduation party"). Italian doesn't do this. Instead, you put the main thing first (la festa) and connect the descriptive noun with di (of), making it literally "the party of graduation".
Is it possible to drop the per in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Just like in English where you can say "lasted three hours" instead of "lasted for three hours", Italians often drop the per and simply say è durata tre ore. Both are perfectly natural.

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