Inaugurated last Thursday 23 March, the exhibition “One hundred years of the Air Force” has immediately become a favorite stop for the many “Romans” and the very numerous, national and foreign tourists, present in Rome, a city that for centuries has been recognized as “caput mundi” or Capital of the world because it has been considered in history as the center of politics, economy, culture and consequently also the world, given that the borders of the glorious Roman Empire extended to many corners of the globe.
The exhibition, set up at the Shrine of Flags at the Altare della Patria, inside the Vittoriano complex, tells the story, capabilities and traditions of the Air Force in its first 100 years".
The Vittoriano exhibition is the first stage of an itinerant iconographic journey that will touch, throughout 2023, various cities such as Florence, Bari, Cagliari, Palermo, Caserta, Parma, Treviso, Milan, Ferrara, Viterbo, Lecce.
The itinerant exhibition aims to tell, through graphic representations, films and memorabilia, the extraordinary evolutionary path taken by the aeronautics and the Armed Forces in its first century of life, from its foundation to the present day.
The exhibition, as well as retracing the 100 years of the history of the Air Force, aims beyond that of telling, through a rich graphic itinerary, the facts that characterized the glorious Arma Azzurra, to describe the incredible courage of the first aviators, their records and their first extraordinary flights, to get ever closer to the territory and the citizen and magically projecting the visitor towards the future.
As stated by Gen. Goretti at the inauguration, the exhibition “represents the first 100 years of a modern and state-of-the-art armed force. One hundred years full of historical episodes told in a place, the Vittoriano, which represents the strength of this country, as well as the fulcrum of our memory. – With this exhibition we will tell a story made up of men and women who, in these first 100 years, have never changed their passion, always honoring the Flag, the Air Force and the Nation".
BEST WISHES AIR FORCE and THANK YOU because, with passion, sacrifice and silent immense love you are ready, at any time, to defend our borders and to make available, even in complex weather conditions, men and means to ensure urgent medical transport at our service citizens!
The exhibition at the Vittoriano can be visited, free of charge, from 24 March to 23 April, according to the following times:
- from Tuesday to Friday from 09 to 30 and from 12.00 to 14.00;
- On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the afternoon hours are extended until 18.00. Entry to the public is allowed up to 20 minutes before closing.
APPRODONDIMENTO
THE VICTORIAN
The name derives from Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of Italy.
At his death, in the 1878, it was decided to raise a monument that would celebrate the Father of the Fatherland and with him the entire Risorgimento season.
The Victorian must be an open space for the citizens. The monumental complex was inaugurated by Vittorio Emanuele III on 4 June 1911.
It was the culminating moment of the International Exposition that celebrated the fifty years of a united Italy.
In the monumental complex, under the statue of the Goddess Rome, the body of the Unknown Soldier was buried on 4 November 1921 in memory of the many soldiers who fell in the war and whose name or burial place is unknown.
ALTAR OF THE FATHERLAND
The Altar of the Fatherland is only a portion of the complex, born from an idea of the 1906.
The competition was won by the Brescia sculptor Angelo Zanelli.
The newsstand at the center of the Abbey of Patria with the statue of the goddess Rome and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Left Bas Relief:
Industry: from the long beam, supported by the homo faber, hangs the heavy anvil. A female hand rests on the anvil an oak crown, symbol of strength. The winged genius of Labor, leaning on human labor, is about to rise victorious on the great triumphal plow. Agriculture: rearing, harvesting, harvesting and irrigation.
Bas-relief on the right:
Three female figures offer honorary crowns to Rome, followed by labars, the insignia of the legions. On the triumphal chariot are the victorious genius of the Love of Fatherland and the Hero, leaning on the great sword of the Titans. Two women hold their cloaks in their hands. Also in this cycle we find the motif of the long beam, from which hangs the brazier of the sacred fire.
The Values of Italians
Six groups represent allegories of the civil values of the Italian people:
- FORCE
- RIGHT
- CONCORDIA
- ACTION
- THOUGHT
- SACRIFICE
Two are in golden bronze and four in botticino, the Brescia marble covering the monument.
"UNIT OF THE PATRIA", "LIBERTY OF THE CITIZENS"
The central theme of the monument is the two inscriptions on the propylene:
"PATRIAE UNITATI" "CIVIUM LIBERTATI", "Unity of the Fatherland" "To the freedom of the citizens", each post almost as a commentary on the two squares of Carlo Fontana and Paolo Bartolini.