Il Historical Museum of the Military Motorization of the Army of Rome was previously housed in extremely limited exhibition spaces. In 1991, it was moved to its current location after the restoration of the pre-existing infrastructure, in an area of about 50,000 square meters, very complex, with wide avenues, extensive green areas, and volumes with a “card” structure, typical of the early century, once used for teaching activities of the Military Motorization School.
In the complex, there are more than three hundred units among vintage civilian and military cars and trucks, sixty tracked, armored, and protected vehicles, and sixty vintage motorcycles.
Among the six exhibition pavilions, the one dedicated to the “Gold Medal Arturo Mercanti” stands out, housing the Directorate, a library-archive with data and technical sheets related to many motor vehicles entrusted to the Army, from its origins to the present day, as well as photographic and documentary material, and a large wall map showing the dynamic maneuver carried out by General Cadorna in Trentino in 1916, characterized by the first massive use of motor transport.
In addition to some animal-drawn carts from 1914 and 1916, the Museum includes pieces of great value and historical importance, such as the Fiat 18 BL, Fiat 15 Ter and Spa 38 trucks, as well as two light aircraft Piper L 18 and L 21 B, a Fiat 501 Torpedo, a fast tank L3, an M 15-42 tank, and a P 40 tank, a very rare Lancia Astura Lince armored car from 1942, a Spa Dovunque 35 truck, a Fiat 513 model 4 from 1910, used by Vittorio Emanuele III for movements on the front of the First World War, and the very famous ambulance from the film “Farewell to Arms,” Fiat type 2 from 1910.
The Cecchignola area is located in the southern suburb of Rome, a short distance from the Eur district where the Museum of Roman Civilization, the Palace of Labor Civilization, and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul can be visited.
