War

The Museo del Risorgimiento e della Resistenza di Ferrara (Ferrara Museum of the Risorgimiento and Resistance) presents a history of war and resistance in Ferrara, emphasising three key topics and periods: the Risorgimiento, the wars of Italian unification; the First World War; and the Second World War, antifascism, and local partisan and resistance movements.

The Museo Memoriale della Libertà (Memorial Museum of Freedom) in Bologna presents artifacts from the city’s experiences during the Second World War. Exhibits include a collection of military and civilian vehicles and aircraft, a freight wagon used to transport Italian deportees to concentration camps, and the photographic and film collection of Bologna student Edo Ansaloni, who captured the Liberation of Bologna on April 21, 1945. 

The Museo della Memoria: Sicilia 1943 (Memorial Museum: Sicily 1943) in Modica presents the history of the Allied Landings in Sicily beginning July 10, 1943, and the course of the subsequent fighting in Sicily. The museum employs a large collection of physical artifacts – weapons and equipment, military uniforms, vehicles, etc. – in addition to period documents and photographs to document the course of the Sicily campaign and present the perspectives and identities of different participants, including the people of Sicily. 

The Museo della Battaglia di Ortona (Battle of Ortona Museum) presents the history of the Battle of Ortona (December 20-28, 1943) between the German 1st Parachute Division and the Canadian 1st Infantry Division and 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. Part of the Allied advance northwards, Ortona was fiercely defended and house-to-house fighting occurred. A Canadian victory after eight days of combat resulted in steep casualties: more than 800 German, and approximately 2000 Canadian. 

The Museo Historiale di Cassino (Cassino Historical Museum) presents the Second World War-era history of Cassino. The city is particularly significant for the long and bloody Battle of Monte Cassino (January 1944 to May 1944), in which approximately 55 000 Allied soldiers lost their lives (against 20 000 German casualties) to achieve a breakthrough in the advance towards Rome.

The Museo Storico della Liberazione di Roma (Museum of the Liberation of Rome) presents the history of the German invasion and occupation of Rome in September 1943 following the Italian-Allied Armistice, the impacts on the city’s population, subsequent resistance, and the Liberation of Rome in June 1944.

The Museo Storico della Linea Gotica (Gothic Line Museum) in Casinina is a museum and documentation center which presents the history of the German line of fortifications along the northern Apennine Mountains known as the Gothic Line, and the Allied attacks and advances on these positions in 1944 and 1945 including the nearby Battle of Rimini in September 1944. The museum is located along the former site of the Gothic Line, including the preserved remains of a German bunker and a Park of Memory built upon the site of a former German minefield.