Museo del Risorgimento

Welcome in Istituto Mazziniano – Museo del Risorgimento, Mazzini’s house of birth

The Istituto Mazziniano is in Palazzo Adorno. Originally the building, founded in XV th century, was owned by the noble family of the Adorno; the front was decorated with frescos representing famous personality probably belonging to the same Adorno family.
Then, in XVI th century , when the nobility was attracted by the prestigious palaces of Strada Nuova (now Via Garibaldi), the emergent middle class replaced the nobility and the buildings in this whole area of via Lomelllini underwent considerable transformation. In particular this building was breaked up in two apartments and a pharmacy; one of these apartment owened by Mazzini’s family.
Giuseppe Mazzini was born in this building in 1805. When he died in 1872, the Genoese Workers Confederation promoted a subscription to raise the funds to purchase the apartment in which he was born in order to create a Memorial Museum.
In 1925 the building was declared “national monument” and later the Government established the sum for the purchase of all of the building with the aim to concentrate in one place all testimonies of the Risorgimento period.
In 1934 the Istituto Mazziniano was opened, putting togheter the Memorial museum, the Library, the Archives and the Museum of Risorgimento, opened in 1915 in Palazzo Bianco.
Today Istituto Mazziniano is the most important institution in Italy for studies concerning the democratic republican movement inspired by Giuseppe Mazzini. All this is due to the collections increased over the years through private donations – often descendants of the protagonist of Risorgimento – and donation by workers and political associations.

The exhibition lay-out

The Museum winds throughs 12 rooms and contains paintings, drawings, documents, uniforms, flags, weapons.

The exhibition lay - out presents also multimedia installations .
At the beginning a general presentation of museum, and a timescale concerning Genoa at the centre of History of the Risorgimento.

At 2nd floor an installation concerning the thoughts and deeds of Giuseppe Mazzini, and one another concerning Mutual benefit Society between Workers.
At last an installation concerning italian anthem, and one another concerning the Departure of Thousands of Garibaldi in 1861.

The first room is dedicated to describe the XVIII century, in particular the revolt in 1746 against the Austrians, who were thrown outside the walls of the city; the hero of this revolt was a young man, named “Balilla” (this was a nickname); in 1797 the aristocratic structure of the republican governement was transformed in a democratic republic –jacobin republic, “sister” of the French nation.
In 1805 the republic became part of Napoleon’s Empire, and in 1815 Genoa and Liguria were annexed to Reign of Sardinia, but the Genoese people traditionally and by mentality republican, didn’t suffer well the annexation to a reign and in particular the fellows of a secret association, the “Carboneria”, conspired against the king.

At second floor there is a multimedia installation concerning Mazzini’s thoughts, deeds, friends and detractors.
Here we enter in Mazzini family’s apartment, with the reconstruction of the office of Giuseppe Mazzini with his guitar.
Giuseppe Mazzini loved literature, arts, and music; he played guitar and composed music.
There are paintings, fotographies, documents concerning in particular his friends and his fellows, exponents of the democratic and republican movement, which saw Genoa as the propulsive centre; the most famous are Goffredo Mameli, Carlo Pisacane, Jacopo e Giovanni Ruffini. _ During the historical period called “Restoration” , and exactly in 1828, the young Mazzini in the columns of the newspaper “L’Indicatore Genovese” began to speak about patriotism and politics, writing of literature, but his voice was immediately suffocated by the government and in 1831 he was exiled. He chose Marseille in France, where he founded the “Giovane Italia”, a secret organisation which in a few years reached tens of thousands followers.
In 1833 he founded the “Giovane Europa” to contraste - he said - the “Sainted alliance of the powers “with the”sainted alliance of the peoples”. He lived also in Suisse and for a long time in London (in all he lived 40 years abroad).
In the room in which Mazzini was born is the memorial museum of Mazzini, with documents, objects, drawings concerning his life and his studies; one of the most important episode of his life was the defense of Roman Republic in 1849, and his death in Pisa (Tuscany) in 1872.

3d floor
At first the original signed manuscript of the anthem “Fratelli d’Italia”, written by Goffredo Mameli, with a multimedia installation concerning the anthem and the tricolour flag.

The subsequent section houses in a large hall the most spectacular part of the museu, dedicated to the expedition of the Thousand and to unification of Italy. There are uniforms, the famous red shirts of the Garibaldi’s fellows, weapons, flags, paintings.

A multimedia installation is dedicated to explain the famous painting of dutch painter Peter Tetar Val Elven, concerning the departure of Garibaldi and his fellowes from Quarto on 5 May 1861 (the painting was realized in 1891).

At last two little sections:
One section is dedicated to Genoese Carabinieri, association of young Mazzinians trained miltarily in the shooting with weapons and uniform belonging to the club, that partecipated to expedition of Thousand.
The last section is dedicated to the documents of the Archive of Istituto Mazziniano; it shows a selection of the over 40.000 manuscripts kept into the archive, the most part concerning the protagonists of the mazzinian democratic and republican movement.

Thank you for your visit