German-Italian RelationsHistory
Curated by Military Prosecutor General Marco De Paolis, the exhibition reconstructs the trials concerning the Nazi massacres of 1943 to 1945, from the post-war period to the reopening of proceedings after the discovery of the armadio della vergogna. Reggia di Monza, 10 September to 26 October 2025, free admission.
Under the Alto Patronato of the President of the Republic, the Reggia di Monza presents the eleventh stage of the travelling exhibition "Nonostante il lungo tempo trascorso… Le stragi nazifasciste nella Guerra di Liberazione 1943–1945", curated by Military Prosecutor General Marco De Paolis. The opening took place on 8 September 2025 in the Salone d'Onore; the exhibition can be visited from 10 September to 26 October 2025 in the Belvedere, on the third floor. Admission is free. This stage was organised in cooperation between the Stato Maggiore Difesa and the Procura Generale Militare presso la Corte Militare di Appello di Roma; the Comune di Monza and the Reggia di Monza have provided substantial local support.
At the centre lies the interweaving of storia, memoria e giustizia: the exhibition focuses on the judicial handling of the Nazi massacres as pursued by the military courts from the immediate post-war years to the present day. At the same time, the formula "nonostante il lungo tempo trascorso", which since 1960 has stood as a shorthand for the suppression of numerous investigative files, is reinterpreted as a commitment of memory policy: the passage of time must not erode the pursuit of truth.
At the centre lies the interweaving of storia, memoria e giustizia: the exhibition focuses on the judicial handling of the Nazi massacres as pursued by the military courts from the immediate post-war years to the present day.
The exhibition is divided into four sections: war crimes against members of the armed forces, including Cefalonia, Kos and Leros, with maps and interactive stations; crimes against the civilian population across South, Centre and North, including contributions from the Atlante delle stragi; deportations, internment and forced labour, with interactive maps; and the trials, from Allied proceedings through an initial Italian post-war phase to the reopening of cases following the discovery of the armadio della vergogna in 1994 and the proceedings from 2002 to 2013.
The exhibition combines photographs, documents, oral-history elements and video material; documentary films are also screened, including Lo stato di eccezione from the Cineteca di Bologna.
The figures illustrate the scale of the events: around 70,000 military victims in Europe, of whom more than 1,000 were in Italy; 650,000 deported Italian military internees; and 24,409 civilian victims in 5,872 documented incidents, with 14,935 in the North, 6,862 in the Centre and 2,623 in the South. These figures form the historical horizon of judicial reckoning.
The exhibition documents 50 proceedings before Allied courts in Italy and 15 trials in an initial Italian post-war phase. After the discovery of the armadio della vergogna in 1994, consisting of 695 concealed files, a further 24 proceedings followed between 2002 and 2013, including cases concerning Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Monte Sole/Marzabotto, Civitella Val di Chiana and Fucecchio. The period from 2002 onward is closely associated with the work of Marco De Paolis.
Location: Reggia di Monza, Belvedere, third floor · Dates: 10 September to 26 October 2025 · Admission: free
Opening hours: 10–30 September: Wednesday–Friday 2:30–7:30 pm; Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 10:30 am–6:30 pm. 1–26 October: Wednesday–Friday 10:00 am–4:00 pm; Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 10:30 am–6:30 pm.