I Ravennais who had participated in the uprisings, the wars of independence, as well as the Garibaldian events donated to the municipal administration the memories in their possession, whether they were weapons, uniforms, equipment, graphic works and paintings or personal papers and documents, all testimonies of heartfelt popular participation, to which over time were added mainly paper documentation collected by those “guardians” of the documentary memories of Ravenna, such as Primo Uccellini first and Silvio Bernicoli later.
The Museum of the Risorgimento of Ravenna was established in 1997 with the Risorgimento relics of Ravenna presented at the Regional Romagnola Exhibition of 1904, mostly documents, proclamations, letters, drawings, and prints originally used only on the occasion of important celebrations, such as the 50th anniversary (1932) of Garibaldi’s death and the centenary of the annexation to Piedmont (1959).
The current arrangement therefore represents the first stable organization of the collection, supplemented by the opening of a section dedicated to “Garibaldi and Ravenna – between History and Myth” (1848-1849) in which the weapons and cloak of the Hero of the Two Worlds, the supposed boots of Anita, and the stool used by Pius IX are preserved.
