Risorgimento Museum of Villafranca

The Museum of the Risorgimento in Villafranca di Verona was established in 1959 from the idea of the then administration to make permanent an exhibition set up for the centenary of the historic meeting between the two emperors Franz Joseph I of Austria and Napoleon III of France, which took place on July 11, 1859, where the Armistice of Villafranca was signed.

Originally located in some rooms adjacent to the so-called "house of the Treaty," or more correctly Palazzo Bottagisio, the exhibition featured prints, posters, and historical memorabilia loaned and later purchased from a collector in Cavriana. Following the acquisition by the Municipality, the following year the exhibition was moved to the rooms next to the Treaty hall, in the historic palace on via della Pace.

In 1981, during the first antique market exhibition, the material was placed in the town hall, and only in 1986 were the prints restored, cataloged, and displayed to the public in a special exhibition held in the winter of 1986/87.

The current museum was inaugurated on November 19, 1989, with the presence of personalities, the public, and the consuls of Austria and France, and was sealed the following month with the visit of the Prime Minister, Senator Giovanni Spadolini, a scholar and enthusiast of the Risorgimento period.

With the increase in visitors and the need to propose a more structured path, in 2009 the museum was moved to the Historic Palazzo del Trattato, the original venue of the meeting that laid the groundwork for the signing of the armistice and the subsequent peace that ended the second Italian war of independence.

The museum displays weapons, including sabers, bayonets, grenades, cannonballs, prints, and memorabilia belonging to the opposing armies that fought the wars for independence and the unification of Italy. It also houses documents, personal items, and testimonies from residents of Villafranca who participated, between 1848 and 1866, in the patriotic battles and from volunteers who enlisted in the ranks of the Garibaldians in 1859 and 1866, as well as a red jacket and a hat belonging to a volunteer from the Alpine Hunters.