Rooms of Memory in Siena

Siena and the Sienese area were heavily involved in events of the twentieth century, which saw conflict and social upheaval on an unprecedented scale. The Rooms of Memory (Stanze della Memoria), which were opened on 27 January 2007, take visitors on a journey through the city's modern history. The trail begins with the start of the 1900s, focusing on the crucial themes of fascism and the Resistance, and ends with the Liberation: along the way it tells the stories of the local men and women and the roles they played in those agonised years.

The Rooms are located in the Casermetta, as the Sienese have called it ever since 1943-44, when it was the headquarters of the Italian Social Republic's political police. Anti-fascists were brought here and tortured, while punitive raiding parties sallied out in search of partisans.

The trail consists of 12 rooms, each of which contains gigantographs, information panels, films and audio narratives, all of which accompany the visitor on their tour. Visiting the Rooms of Memory helps you to understand one of the most intense and dramatic episodes of Siena's history, in a place where the memory of those who opposed fascism is nourished and transmitted in a way that is more than merely symbolic.