central museum of risorgimento

( museo centrale del risorgimento )

 

It was founded in 1906 and placed in the monument dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele 11, which was still under construction.

The Museum comprises, in addition to plenty of documentary material, numerous paintings, statues, engravings, and various relics illustrating the history of the transformation of the Italian society starting from the reforms of the eighteenth century and the Jacobin republics to the formation and growth of the Italian nation, concluding with the events of the First World War.

As mentioned already, the Museum is housed in the Vittoriano complex, precisely in the wing added in 1931 by architect Armando Brasini, along the road that runs along the Imperial Fora.

After the display of several engravings with the allegories of history between the eighteenth and nineteenth century and busts of gold medals from the First World War, the exhibition tour continues with the first hall dedicated to the protagonists of the Italian Renaissance: Cavour, Mazzini, Garibaldi and Vittorio Emanuele 11, whose portraits, documents, personal relics and weapons are on display.

In the following gallery a historical course is reconstructed going from the secret societies and the revolutionary revolts to the Roman Republic of 1849, from the wars of independence to the expedition of the year 1000 and the capture of Rome, through the display of various exhibits including the weapons, portraits, uniforms and tricolours of the followers of Garibaldi, along with the stretcher and blanket with which Garibaldi was aided when he was wounded during the battle of Aspromonte; the books and portraits of the partisans in jail; photographs of the opening of Porta Pia in 1870 and of several events connected with brigandage, as well as numerous weapons that belonged to various figures a mong whom the commander-in-chief of the Veneto troops, General Guglielmo Pepe and Garibaldi's lieutenant Nino Bixio.

The last evocative room is dedicated to the First World War with the display of extensive documentation that ranges from paintings by soldier-painters, to drawings and oil paintings by Carpi, Bucci, and Brass in addition to archive documents, relics and photographs from the time.

In the centre of the room one can observe the gun carriage with which in 1921 the body of the unknown soldier was transported from the cathedral of Aquileia to Rome, where on 4 November with a solemn ceremony, it was buried in the crypt of the Vittoriano.

It is worth remembering that the Museum, after years of enforced closure, was reopened to the public on 2 June 2001 and that, thanks to a collaboration with the Istituto Luce, it uses the support of carefully restored rare filmed sequences from the time that document the clashes and attacks of the Great War, but also the everyday life of Italian soldiers in the trenches or on the ships.

Information and Addresses

Address Via di San Pietro in Carcere

Visiting Hours Every day from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm

Telephone 066780664-6793598; Fax 06 6782572

Price Free admission

 

For Tours information – private guided tours – special entrances, no waiting in line - VIP services

www.tourinrome.com www.vaticanmuseuminformation.com  www.vaticanmuseumticket.com