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The War Museum

The Museum was conceived by a group of citizens of Rovereto who wished to remember the recently concluded conflict after which Trentino was united to the Kingdom of Italy. King Victor Emanuel III opened the Museum on 12th October 1921.

During the First World War Rovereto had been evacuated, bombed and had suffered large losses.
The city became a symbol of the “war of liberation” and the Museum a place of remembrance to which citizens, ex-combatants and institutions sent a large quantity of documents and memorabilia.


In the following decades, the Museum extended its interests to other conflicts: from the modern era to colonial wars and to the Second World War.

Run by an Association, the Museum exhibits arms and uniforms, photographs and paintings, documents and personal effects. It promotes temporary exhibitions, research, the publication of works of historical interest and participates in film productions.


The visits

The Museum is situated in the 15th Century Castle of Rovereto and is reached by via Castelbarco. At the end of a long steep passage you enter the courtyard in which there is a very deep well. From the crenellated terraces there is a splendid view of the city and of the valley beyond. The exhibition itself is on the various levels of the Castle, and the section “First World War Artillery” in a Second World War air raid shelter, dug at the foot of the Castle is accessible from Piazza Podestà. A full visit should take approx 2 hours.
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A new design for the Museum

In october 2008 the Museum opened three new rooms dedicated to weaponry and soldiers from Napoleon to the First World War.
The first room is dedicated to the development of weaponry and armies in the nineteenth century: from the flint rifles and the repeating ones to the machine guns.
The history of “Risorgimento” (Unifications of Italy) is told through a fascinating collection of ceramics and evocative items displayed in the second room. In the third room visitors can view a rare example of 1918 Nieuport airplane.
The traditional layout of the Museum continues from this point with the unfolding history of the Great War.
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