Description
The National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento occupies the piano nobile of Palazzo Carignano, in Turin, and tells in thirty rooms the road to Italian unity, from the French Revolution to the eve of the First World War. It is the only one officially entitled "national."
It is a museum for anyone who wants to understand how Italy was born, and for those who like history seen from the inside. There are uniforms, flags, weapons, documents, paintings and two real parliamentary chambers: 2,580 pieces chosen from the collection's 54,000.
The star attraction is not in a display case. It is the Chamber of the Subalpine Parliament, in use from 1848 to 1860 and left as it was: the seats of Cavour, Massimo d'Azeglio, Balbo, Gioberti and Garibaldi are marked with tricolor rosettes.
In room 25 is Cavour's study, rebuilt as a ministry. In the first room, the relics of Victor Emmanuel II: a helmet, a sword engraved with the words "Long live Charles Albert" on one side and "Long live Italy" on the other, and six medals.
The rooms follow history in order: the Napoleonic era, the uprisings of 1820 and 1830, the revolutions of 1848, the wars of independence, the expedition of the Thousand. You reach the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 and the capture of Rome in 1870.
The last room is the chamber built for the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, today the home of temporary exhibitions, with large paintings of battles from 1848 to 1860, between the regular army and Garibaldi's volunteers.
A helmet, a sword and six medals: a consolation prize. In 1878 Victor Emmanuel II died and Turin wanted him buried at Superga, with his ancestors. Instead he was taken to the Pantheon, in Rome, the new capital.
To make amends, his son Umberto I gave the city his father's relics. From that gift a museum was born. For years the collection moved around: in 1908 it opened in the Mole Antonelliana, then the building's structural problems sent it to the Valentino.
Since 1938 it has been in Palazzo Carignano, where Charles Albert and Victor Emmanuel II were born. After restoration, it reopened in 2011, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
Don't miss
• The Chamber of the Subalpine Parliament.
• Cavour's study.
• The relics of Victor Emmanuel II.
• The never-used chamber of the Italian Parliament.
Did you know?
• The chamber of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, finished in 1871, was never used: the capital was already in Florence.
• The Subalpine Chamber is the only original example in the world of the parliamentary chambers established after the revolutions of 1848.
It is a museum for anyone who wants to understand how Italy was born, and for those who like history seen from the inside. There are uniforms, flags, weapons, documents, paintings and two real parliamentary chambers: 2,580 pieces chosen from the collection's 54,000.
The star attraction is not in a display case. It is the Chamber of the Subalpine Parliament, in use from 1848 to 1860 and left as it was: the seats of Cavour, Massimo d'Azeglio, Balbo, Gioberti and Garibaldi are marked with tricolor rosettes.
In room 25 is Cavour's study, rebuilt as a ministry. In the first room, the relics of Victor Emmanuel II: a helmet, a sword engraved with the words "Long live Charles Albert" on one side and "Long live Italy" on the other, and six medals.
The rooms follow history in order: the Napoleonic era, the uprisings of 1820 and 1830, the revolutions of 1848, the wars of independence, the expedition of the Thousand. You reach the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 and the capture of Rome in 1870.
The last room is the chamber built for the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, today the home of temporary exhibitions, with large paintings of battles from 1848 to 1860, between the regular army and Garibaldi's volunteers.
A helmet, a sword and six medals: a consolation prize. In 1878 Victor Emmanuel II died and Turin wanted him buried at Superga, with his ancestors. Instead he was taken to the Pantheon, in Rome, the new capital.
To make amends, his son Umberto I gave the city his father's relics. From that gift a museum was born. For years the collection moved around: in 1908 it opened in the Mole Antonelliana, then the building's structural problems sent it to the Valentino.
Since 1938 it has been in Palazzo Carignano, where Charles Albert and Victor Emmanuel II were born. After restoration, it reopened in 2011, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification.
Don't miss
• The Chamber of the Subalpine Parliament.
• Cavour's study.
• The relics of Victor Emmanuel II.
• The never-used chamber of the Italian Parliament.
Did you know?
• The chamber of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, finished in 1871, was never used: the capital was already in Florence.
• The Subalpine Chamber is the only original example in the world of the parliamentary chambers established after the revolutions of 1848.