Although the Bersaglieri [Sharpshooters] first appeared in Rome in 1849 at Porta San Giovanni, in the collective imagination their memory is linked to Porta Pia.
It was 5:15 am on 20 September 1870: three battalions opened fire, sharply and precisely, on a few metres of front. Some 888 shots were fired and the order to attack was given to the Bersaglieri of the 12th and 34th battalions; as they breached the Walls, white flags were hoisted and many windows in the city were draped with improvised Italian tricolour flags.
The Bersaglieri Corps, established in 1836, was founded at the behest of General Alessandro La Marmora, who was convinced of the need to provide the army with a corps of marksmen, or bersaglieri, men equipped with rapid precision firearms and trained to operate in rugged mountainous terrain.
From 1887, General Edoardo Testafochi began to collect relics and documents related to the events of the Bersaglieri, which grew over the years until they took on a concrete form in 1904 when the Historical Museum was inaugurated at the La Marmora barracks in Trastevere in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III. The premises soon proved to be inadequate. In the meantime, the Museum had become a non-profit organisation by decree in 1921, and the proposal was put forward that it be moved to the Porta Pia premises granted by the City Council in 1931.
On 18 September 1932, the new present-day Museum premises were opened to the public. Fifty thousand military men in plumed hats flocked to the sound of fanfares from all over Italy, and at the same time, the impressive bronze sculpture of a bersagliere created by Publio Morbiducci was solemnly unveiled in the square in front of it.
The Museum, a historical memory of the spirit and heart of the Bersaglieri, houses thousands of relics and mementos, oil paintings, watercolours, tempera paintings, sketches, and collections of photographs. Numerous weapons of great historical interest are on exhibit, from zagaglias [assegai or javelin] to lances, finely chiselled shields, and drums. Just inside is the evocative war memorial dedicated to the more than one hundred thousand Bersaglieri who died for their country. In a small room dedicated to Enrico Toti and the Bersaglieri cyclists is the famous bicycle with a single pedal and crutch.
2. A. TRANZI, The Breach of Porta Pia with the death of Bersaglieri Major Giacomo Pagliari, 1882, oil on canvas
3. Porta Pia, detail with the barricades after the bombardments of 20 September 1870, 1870, albumen
4. G. ALTOBELLI, Reconstruction of the Italian troops’ storming of Porta Pia, 1870, albumen
5. P. PIRAINO, Monument to Bersagliere Enrico Toti, 1921-1932, bronze, marble and travertine (Porta Pia, inner courtyard)
6. P. PIRAINO, Monument to Bersagliere Enrico Toti, detail of sculpture, 1921, bronze and travertine (Porta Pia, inner courtyard),2022
7. Inner courtyard of Porta Pia with the Bersagliere Monument in the background, 2011