What is the Risorgimento, and what is its significance today?
The Risorgimento is part of the great European nationality movements, from which it largely draws ideals and objectives. It is a process of rebirth, of political and civil regeneration of the peninsula which, not without contradictions and conflicts, thanks to the contribution of intellectuals, moderate and democratic thinkers, young volunteers, soldiers, kings, famous men and women alongside a multitude that remained anonymous, through reforms, battles, revolutions, diplomatic agreements and important conquests, such as those of the Constitution, political representation, freedom of the press, the secularity of the state, managed to create an independent, united and liberal nation: the Kingdom of Italy. It is a past that concerns us, that must be known with a critical sense and welcomed, to assess the limits of the unification process and retain today the ideals of freedom, sharing and courage that are at the origin of our country.
Why are the object(s) on display representative of the Risorgimento today? What is their evocative and testimonial power today?
What we see is the display case of Vittorio Emanuele II's relics, the first King of Italy. This is an important symbol, as it represents the founding core of the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento. After the King's death in 1878, his body was buried in the Pantheon in Rome, now the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and not in the Basilica of Superga, where the other ancestors of the dynasty were buried, as desired by the people of Turin. Thus, the new King, Umberto I, as a sign of moral compensation and gratitude to the city symbol of the Savoy dynasty and the bond nurtured towards the first capital of the Kingdom, donated his father's relics to Turin. The offer generated the idea of creating a Museum of national history. It took years, but in the meantime the Temple of the Risorgimento in the Exhibition of 1884 represented a preview of the installation, at the center of which, in the so-called plebiscite hall, at the foot of a statue of King Vittorio, this display case was placed, symbolizing the synergistic action of the monarchy and the people who, through universal suffrage, had legitimized it to govern the country. Today, for us, the display case with the relics remains the founding symbol of our museum institution and a material and ideal bridge with the historical memory of our nation.
Alessandro Bollo, Director | National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento
