Historical Museum
ROCCA – MUSEO DELL’OTTOCENTO

The complex is home to the Museo dell'Ottocento 'Mauro Gelfi', an itinerary illustrating the transformations of the city between the Ancien Régime and the early post-unification period. On display are valuable objects, paintings and documents testifying to this delicate historical period: uniforms, weapons, proclamations, medals, propaganda sheets, but also artefacts belonging to the sphere of work and sociality, such as the piano where theGaribaldi's anthem. Seemingly banal objects, such as a fan or a sugar bowl, show how the patriotic message was conveyed in everyday life, thanks to tricolour decorations and Risorgimento mottos. From the marble busts of Gabriele Camozzi and Alba Coralli, protagonists of the political and cultural events of the time and at the centre of a passionate love story, to the painting portraying Alessio Maironi, a young classical high school student who fell in Sicily, the youngest of the fallen volunteers who left Bergamo: the participation of men and women in the unification process is illustrated through the narration of individual biographies to build an articulate and choral picture of the events of the local and national Risorgimento. A dedicated section reconstructs the contribution of the 180 Bergamasks who joined Garibaldi in the heroic expedition of the Thousand.
The Rocca is one of the six sites in the network of the Museo delle storie di Bergamo, a diffuse historical museum that tells the history of Bergamo, from Roman times to the 20th century.