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Museo Historiale in Cassino: 13 Rooms Telling the Story of War as Never Before
In 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Montecassino, the town of Cassino inaugurated a museum unlike any other. The Historiale does not display uniforms or tanks: it tells the story of war through cinema, theatre, special effects and oral testimony, using the performing arts to draw the visitor into the story being told. The project was entrusted to Officine Rambaldi, the studio of Carlo Rambaldi, winner of three Academy Awards for special effects for the films King Kong, Alien and E.T. The result is Italy’s first multimedia museum dedicated to a military conflict.
The rooms: from Saint Benedict to rebirth
The itinerary begins with the legacy of San Benedetto (St Benedict). Montecassino is not just a battleground, it is a place with fifteen centuries of history behind it. From there the journey continues: the two World Wars, the construction of the Gustav Line, the bombing of the Abbey on 15 February 1944, holographic projections of a German officer and an American soldier explaining their opposing strategies, the recorded voices of inhabitants of the Cassino area, the letters of emigrants. The final rooms tell the story of the post-war years: the question of whether to leave or stay, and then the choice to rebuild.
In 2024, on the 80th anniversary of the destruction of Montecassino, the museum reopened, fully renovated, with physical, sensory and language barriers removed.
