Italian Great War Museums #4: Valsugana, Lagorai and the permanent exhibition in Borgo Valsugana

The battlefield tourist travelling to Italy in search of World War I itineraries and museums cannot count on something similar to the Imperial War Museum of London or to the Canadian War Museum, and will not find anything comparable to what are today museums like In Flanders Field of Ypres or even the WWI Memorial in Kansas City. The Italian Great War museum network misses a reference point and dimension-wise only the “Museo storico italina della Guerra” (link) in Rovereto is somehow eligible for being a reference point. The Italian network is fragmented and basically we could say that a huge cultural and business opportunity is going to be missed. The situation is dispersive. This is of course a problem for foreign travellers arriving to Italy during today or during the centenary period. At the same time this special configuration might turn into an advantage for the tourist willing to design his/her own itinerary putting the variety of topics and “attractions” first. While travelling in the Trento province, for example, apart from the already mentioned “Museo storico italiano della Guerra” in Rovereto, the tourist could try an almost neglected route in the Valsugana valley.

In the small town of Borgo Valsugana people can encounter the permanent exhibition “Grande Guerra in Valsugana e sul Lagorai”. The layout was fully organized by the association of eastern Valsugana and Tesino and recently renewed and aims to recreate in different spaces the four years at the front of the two opposite armies, resorting to many narrative strategies. There is a kind of film attitude we can detect in such layout. Among the rarities of this permanent exhibition we have to enlist the uniform of the Austro-Hungarian aviation ace Josef Kiss, the uniform of a member of the so called Sturmtruppen, a “morning-star” club, the first prototypes of armoured hats and the famous “corazzata Farina” (today we can look at it as a first shy attempt to build a flak jacket). Here is the rich photo gallery.

Info:

Mostra “La Grande Guerra in Valsugana e sul Lagorai”
Vicolo Sottochiesa 11 C.P. 28
38051 Borgo Valsugana (Trento)
T. 0461 757195
www.mostradiborgo.it
Opening time: please use the contact information
 
or

Local Public Library
Via XXIV Maggio, 1
38051 Borgo Valsugana (Trento).
Tel.+39 0461752025
borgovalsugana@biblio.infotn.it
ascvot@virgilio.it