Civic Museum of the Risorgimento

Like other museums of Italian Unification, the Bologna Museo del Risorgimento, inaugurated on June 12, 1893, was instituted with a dual purpose: inculcate patriotic ideals in the general public, and particularly the younger generations; and promote historical research on the recent past while providing tools and resources for the work of historical scholars. The exhibition hall of the museum served the first purpose, while the library was provided principally for use by scholars.

In 1915, museums of Italian Unification were given the task of collecting documentation on what was known as the "Fourth Italian War of Independence" (the First World War, considered as marking the conclusion of the process of Italian unification). Analogously, during the period of Fascism, which proclaimed itself the ideal continuation of the Risorgimento (Italian Unification), a (somewhat lesser) effort was made to collect material on the Impresa di Fiume (attempt to annex the city of Fiume, now Rijeka, Croatia), the colonial wars, the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.

In 1990, the Museum, together with its storage and educational facilities and restoration workshop, was transferred to its current location in Casa Carducci. A new exhibition itinerary was created on the occasion, extending from the French Revolution to the First World War, thus returning to its origins as the "Museo Civico del Risorgimento".