The Libyan collection of the Bologna Red Cross is exhibited for the first time in a city museum.
The memory of an important episode of post-unification Italian colonialism in Africa, the Italo-Turkish war (1911-1912), is thus recovered. Starting from the photographs and objects collected in Libya by the members of the 47th Ambulance at the express request of the president of the Regional Committee of the Red Cross Antonio Modoni, an exhibition layout is developed that focuses on the peculiar characteristics of colonial collecting, embellished by period videos from the Cineteca di Bologna. With reference to the broader context of European penetration in North Africa, the exhibition is enriched by materials from the collection of Carlo Mazzetti, a Bolognese who lived for over fifty years in Egypt and sent to his native city objects taken from the battlefields of the Anglo-Maghdist war.
The heritage donated by Mazzetti, now preserved in the deposits of the Museo Civico Medievale, has been on display ever since it was decided in 1881, and was confirmed in its later adaptations between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when a showcase dedicated to the colonial wars in Egypt was added to the exhibition.
The exceptional nature of the exhibition allows the visitor to come into contact with wartime events that determined Italian colonial expansion until the end of the Second World War and provides an insight into the trajectories of colonial collecting in Italy and Europe, with specific reference to the contribution of Bolognese citizens. Exhibition curated by Luca Villa with the collaboration of Mirtide Gavelli and Otello Sangiorgi.
Information
Civic Museum of the Risorgimento – Piazza Carducci, 5 – Bologna
Open Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Friday 3 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday and holidays 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Tel: 0512196520
Mail: museorisorgimento@comune.bologna.it
