Some Information for visiting the Museum of the Risorgimento of Bologna

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Please note that the updated version of the website in English is under construction. We apologise for the inconvenience. In the meantime, we provide below the essential information for visiting the museum.


The Museum

The permanent collection, that since 1990 has been located in the current premises of Piazza Carducci, retraces the events from 1796, when the French revolutionary troops arrived in Bologna, to 1918, in which ended the First World War. The focus is on urban events, through a selection of highly valuable and historically and human meaningful materials such as documents, prints, paintings, weapons, uniforms, small daily or personal objects, photographs, in other words all the typical materials of the Museums devoted to Risorgimento. 
The Jacobinic age comes back to life through period prints and posters and the extremely rare white, red and green uniform of the Cisalpine Republic. 
The very precious weapons that belonged to Gioacchino Murat, Napoleon brother-in-law and King of Naples, are of a slightly later age, and for familiar reasons his memory is related to the city of Bologna.
The complex symbology of Masonry, Carbonarism and other secret underground societies appears through the coded messages, the membership certificates, the ritual daggers: they all document in an intriguing way the plots and revolutions that followed on during the Restoration until the establishment of Giuseppe Mazzini’s movement. 
The key years of the unification process, which are inextricably linked to Giuseppe Garibaldi, are presented through his figure and the weapons, uniforms and many flags of the various soldiers that fought in the wars of independence. Other objects on display include the relics of Ugo Bassi, those of the battle of August 8, 1848, as well as small Womenly objects, proof of the emerging patriotic commitment of Bolognaise women of that time.
Also the whirlwind events of the three years that were crucial for Italian unification are largely documented: the French-Piedmontese alliance and the war against the Austrians (1859), the plebiscite for the annexation of Emilia-Romagna region and the mission of the Garibaldi’s thousand (1860), the proclamation of the Italian Kingsom and the elections of the first Italian parliament (1861).
The “heroic years” were followed by those of the economic development, of a new town setting, which radically changed the city in the post-unitary years making it more modern and changed, ready for the XX century.
The trail continues with a section devoted to the First World War, seen from the vantage point of the “internal front”: the life and sacrifice of the civil population are told through the press and the propaganda, with the large street billboards of the war loan and with original patriotic gadgets. 
The final section, called “Giorgio Tabarroni”, focuses on philately and postal history and features old Italian stamps and also an important collection devoted to Malta, an emblematic case to understand the history of postal communications.


Opening hours

Museum

Tuesday and Thursday 9am-1pm
Friday 3pm-7pm
Saturday - Sunday and holidays 10am-6pm
CLOSED Monday and Wednesday; May 1; December 25th.


Museum Entrance Fees

Full rate: € 5
Reduced rate: € 3
Free admission for Card Cultura holders
Book your admission and buy your ticket online

Services

Museum

bookshop | guided tours | education services for schools | exhibition activities | photo archive | conference room rentals

Library

consultation and reading room | historical archive | iconographic archive | specialized reference desk | catalog consultation | librarian and interlibrarian loan | reproduction and document delivery | free Wi-Fi


How to get here

From railway or bus station:
by bus > line 32 (Stop: Carducci)
From the city centre:
by bus > lines 25, 27, 14, 18, 19 (bus stop: Porta Mazzini) and line 11 (bus stop Fondazza)
on foot > from the Due Torri (the Two Towers) keep walking along Strada Maggiore, when you spot Porta Mazzini turn right and take Via Toffano

Info

Museo ccivico del Risorgimento (Museum of the Risorgimento)
Piazza Carducci 5 | 40125 Bologna
tel. +39 051 2196520
museorisorgimento@comune.bologna.it
www.museibologna.it/risorgimento