Showcase of the Risorgimento

This large showcase is dedicated to the old Risorgimento Museum, which was housed in Palazzo Pretorio in the first half of the 19th century. On display are various types of memorabilia: rifles, sabres, helmets, and uniform accessories mostly donated by citizens of Prato to the City of Prato since the end of the 19th century to commemorate their participation in the Risorgimento epic. The right side of the showcase is dedicated to one of these characters, Adriano Zarini, who held important military and civil positions during his life. In the painting displayed in the upper right, painted by Tommaso Palloni in 1838, he is depicted on horseback, armed with a short musket and wearing the uniform of the Tuscan Dragoons regiment. Hanging below the painting are two travelling pistols. In the lower right we can also find the valuable and rare brass and leather helmet with red chenille crest that belonged to Zarini and his leather boots with the initials ‘A’ and ‘Z’ on the sole, made with shoe nails. Hanging in the centre of the showcase are a number of infantry and cavalry sabres, a bayonet ring, which was mounted on many types of rifle, and a sword knot – that is the lace that was tied to the hilt of the weapon, which the hand passed through so as to prevent the bearer being disarmed in battle. At the bottom, we can see two infantry drums. In the upper part of the showcase, a cavalry musket and a rifle used by the Tuscan Civil Guard during the First War of Independence in 1848, an event that is also celebrated by a small medal fixed here on the mannequin to the left. The left side of the showcase is dedicated to the Tuscan Civil Guard. There are two dark helmets with gilded decorations and a horsehair plume are on display. The first is accompanied by epaulettes and a gorget in gilded brass, while the second has a white Staff Officer's plume. Finally, at the bottom, there is a silk armband with an embroidered coat of arms of the City of Prato, worn by the first members of the Civic Guard as a distinctive insignia before they were given uniforms.
These objects are only part of the many exhibits from the Risorgimento Museum, which was dismantled after World War II. The purpose of displaying these exhibits, until now kept in storage, is now to commemorate the Risorgimento and the values of independence and freedom, with a privileged view of local events and protagonists.