Historical Museum of the Cavalry

The Museo Storico dell'Arma di Cavalleria is located in Pinerolo, where the hill, the 'Caprilli' cavalry building, the Baudenasca gallop, the Baldissero chute and the Mombrone Castle form the background to the cradle of Italian Chivalry. It covers more than 6,000 square metres of permanent exhibition space and holds, preserves, enhances and promotes the study and knowledge of its collections in order to bring to life the last three centuries of Italian history through an extremely rich collection of uniforms, photographs, paintings and sculptures commemorating the Italian Cavalry. The Museum, which is considered to be one of the richest military museums in Europe, tells the story of the world-famous Italian Cavalry School and the memorable exploits of Captain Caprilli, the world's master of horsemanship. The majestic 19th-century rooms display a vast collection where dioramas with thousands of reenacted toy soldiers, gigantic models of the Battle of Waterloo, settings with stuffed horses and splendid carriages from the Belle Epoque stand out. Inside the historical building that houses the museum, where Captain Caprilli exported the modern method of horse riding, still in vogue today, to the whole world in the early 20th century, there are numerous valuable relics, including some absolutely unique exhibits such as the first known cavalry standard dating back to the first half of the 18th century and the precious boiled leather helmets and shakots adopted by the Sardinian Army from 1814. Last but not least, the first cavalry helmet from Piedmont Royal in 1820 to arrive at much more recent times with the entire collection of relics donated by Ambassador Amedeo Guillet. The numerous permanent collections can be visited all year round.