The Museum of the Risorgimento (Museo del Risorgimento), located in the eighteenth-century Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

ese Palazzo Moriggia, houses a collection of objects and artworks which illustrate the history of Italian unification

Italian unification

Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...

 from Napoleon's first Italian campaign of 1796 to the annexation of Rome

Capture of Rome

The Capture of Rome was the final event of the long process of Italian unification known as the Risorgimento, which finally unified the Italian peninsula under King Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy...

 in 1870. There is particular coverage of Milan’s part in this process, notably the 1848 uprising against Austrian rule known as the Five Days of Milan

Five Days of Milan

The Five Days of Milan was a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On March 18th, the city of Milan, rose, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his men from the city....

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The Museum, along with the Museum of Contemporary History and the Museum of Milan, forms part of the Civic Historical Collections, which have an educational and cultural objective. Its collections include Baldassare Verazzi

Baldassare Verazzi

Baldassare Verazzi was an Italian painter.-Life:He studied at the Academy of Brera at Milan from 1833 to 1842, then under the Venetian Romantic painter Francesco Hayez in 1851, and participated in several exhibitions in Turin and Milan.He took his inspiration from history Baldassare Verazzi (6...

's Episode from the Five Days and Francesco Hayez

Francesco Hayez

Francesco Hayez was an Italian painter, the leading artist of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories and exceptionally fine portraits.-Biography:...

's 1840 Portrait of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria

Ferdinand I of Austria

Ferdinand I was Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation, King of Hungary and Bohemia , as well as associated dominions from the death of his father, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848.He married Maria Anna of Savoy, the sixth child...

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The Museum of the Risorgimento was founded on a collection of documents on the Risorgimento, gathered for the Exhibition of Turin in 1884 and then moved to the showroom at Milan’s Public Gardens. The exhibition was later transferred to the Rocchetta

Rocchetta

Rocchetta may refer to any one of many towns in Italy.comuni:*Rocchetta a Volturno, in the Province of Isernia*Rocchetta Belbo, in the Province of Cuneo*Rocchetta di Vara, in the Province of La Spezia...

 rooms at the Sforza Castle, where it was officially inaugurated on 24 June 1896. In 1943, due to the war-time bombardment of the castle, the museum was temporarily moved to the estate of Casa Manzoni (home of the famed Italian poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni). Finally in 1951 it was housed inside the Moriggia Palace, where it remains today.

The exhibition is set out so as to follow the chronological order of events of the Risorgimento, leading the visitor through fifteen rooms, to which the new Weapons Room has been recently added. The latest refurbishment in 1998 included the redesign of the permanent exhibitions, to accentuate the highlights of the collections, particularly the relics.

The Museum boasts the green and silver velvet cloak and the valuable regal insignia of Napoleon Bonaparte’s coronation, the banner of the Legione Lombarda Cacciatori a Cavallo (Lombard Legion on Horseback) and the first Italian flag. The last renovation saw the redesign of the lighting and information systems, as well as improvements to the ‘Romantic Garden’ behind the building.

The palace

The Moriggia Palace, which houses the Museum, was designed in 1775 by Giuseppe Piermarini

Giuseppe Piermarini

Giuseppe Piermarini was an Italian architect who trained with Luigi Vanvitelli at Rome and designed the Teatro alla Scala, Milan , which remains the work by which he is remembered. Indeed, "il Piermarini" serves as an occasional euphemism for the celebrated opera house...

. It is located behind the vast area of Brera

Brera

Brera is a district of Milan, ItalyBrera may also refer to:* the Palazzo Brera, a historical building in Brera; the palace also houses:** the Brera Art Academy** the Brera Art Gallery** the Brera Astronomical Observatory...

, and was the residence, in Napoleonic times, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later, the Ministry of Defence. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the palace passed to the De Marchi family and was then donated to the City of Milan by his wife of the famous naturalist Marco De Marchi

Marco De Marchi

Marco Antonio De Marchi is an Italian football agent and former association football defender.-Career:De Marchi started his career with the Como youth system, and was successively sold to Serie C2 club Ospitaletto, where he made his professional debut...

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