Forgotten in storage since the 1950s, as if wrapped in a damnatio memoriae: due to its ideal values, for too long the Risorgimento was seen as a precursor of fascism. But Prato was a fervent center of the Risorgimento parable, from the passage of Garibaldi saved by the democrats in 1849 to the activity of illustrious figures such as Piero Cironi, Giuseppe Mazzoni, Atto Vannini, Cesare Guasti. Now it is a new section of the Palazzo Pretorio Museum that restores dignity to a little-known page of history. Rifles, sabres, helmets and uniform accessories and other historical artefacts (many of these restored by the Textile Museum), donated by the people of Prato starting from the end of the nineteenth century as evidence of their participation in the Risorgimento epic, come out of the deposits and in part they return to the origin. Yes, because the former Risorgimento Museum was set up in the Praetorium at the beginning of the twentieth century, in a small room on the first floor, formed thanks to many donations, in particular that of Adriano Zarini, soldier and patriot. It is he who appears in the new display case, in a painting by Tommaso Palloni which portrays him on horseback in the Tuscan Dragoon uniform, with the precious chenille helmet, traveling pistols and dragoon boots complete with initials A and Z “A cross-section of the city’s history is told through these objects of which we have carried out a careful reconnaissance, with an inventory, dating and documentation work – underlines the director Rita Iacopino – The layout of the ground floor of the museum is completed”. This is the last piece of the expansion project of the Palazzo Pretorio Museum where a room of fifteenth-century paintings and the “Prato before Prato” section were recently inaugurated.
The new nucleus on the ground floor focuses on the period 1848-’49, when many people from Prato participated in the democratic season which culminated in the triumvirate of Guerrazzi, Mazzoni and Montanelli. On display are chiselled helmets that belonged to the civic guard, uniform accessories and sabers of rare beauty. And then the weapons with which the Tuscans fought in Curtatone and Montanara as well as the famous medal that decorated the chests of the veterans. “A little jewel which, we hope, can become an attraction for tourists and the people of Prato”, underlines the mayor Ilaria Bugetti.
Maria Lardara
